Hurricanes and Changes
by lillivanessi11
Summary: Post 1x10. Will/Mac. Theres a hurricane a coming. Literally. AND figuratively.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I don't feel like waiting until next summer, so i'm trying to put something together here. Enjoy. This is post 1x10.

August 8th 2011.

"Has Will already gone?" Mackenzie McHale surveyed the remaining staff of New Night who were picking up their things and clearing out of the office for the evening.

"He left about ten minutes ago," a sullen looking Jim responded. "Mac, we're all..."

"Going to get a drink?" she finished his sentence.

"Well I was going to say rooting for you, but we are going to get a drink as well." He tried to manage a grin, but it only came off as a grimace, despite his best effort.

Mac smiled in response. "I suppose it's always good to have someone on your team, you know I'll always be on yours, but I'll pass on the drink tonight. I have some things to take care of." She patted him lovingly on the shoulder and headed back to her office to gather up some things. Jim had become less like a coworker and more like a brother to her in the years that they had been together. She hoped that his situation with Maggie would work itself out, but she had her own domestic woes to deal with in the mean time. Honestly, she hadn't had a real night of sleep since they had found Will unconscious on his bathroom floor.

In the cab ride downtown to her apartment she felt perplexed. What had the message said? She had been so excited about Will's sudden desire to work again, that she honestly hadn't thought about what it said until the block three commercial break during the show that night. When Nina had said, "I'm trying to help you," had it been more than a warning about the possible tabloid?

No, she couldn't let herself think that he had chosen that night to profess that he still loved her. Things like that never happen for real. It was probably that he wanted he to come over for some 'ding dong bin laden's dead' sex or something like that. No. Will wouldn't solicit sex from her over the phone. Ugh it was infuriating!

What she wanted more than anything else in the world was for Will to love her again. She wanted a second chance. He had been very serious earlier tonight when he answered her question about true love always winning. It encouraged her to keep a tiny space open to cherish the possibility of a future with this man whom she loved so desperately, but had hurt so tremendously.

She was in such a daze that she didn't realize that the cab had pulled in front of her building. She handed the driver some cash and went in.

"Good evening Ms. McHale." Her lovable doorman greeted her. "There's a package for you."

"Hi Benny, thank you." She said as he went to retrieve her package from behind his desk in the hall. He handed her a brown shopping bag that she looked quizzically at.

"It was just sent over a little bit ago, not sure from whom." He smiled, "Have a nice night!"

Trying not to show any signs of excitement upon receiving a surprise, she bid him goodnight and headed for the elevator.

The second the elevator doors opened she practically ran down the hallway to her apartment, unlocked the door and ripped open the bag. There was some tissue at the bottom, and on top of it a card.

She clumsily opened the envelope and pulled out a plain white note card on a thick card stock. It read in familiar handwriting:

Dulcinea,

Thanks for the pajamas. Now it's your turn to get some sleep. Stop thinking about the message.

Billy

Without thinking about it, she pressed the card to her chest and squeezed it. His note may have been brief, but knowing that he appreciated the all nighters that she had been pulling at his hospital bedside warmed her heart. Then she reached in the bag and pulled out a tissue wrapped parcel. Inside was the softest cotton pajama pants and tank top that she had ever felt. They were a soft pink with a pattern on the legs and a solid cream-colored top. There was also a matching long-sleeved wrap top. In her hands it felt cool and velvety.

She smiled widely and reached for her phone. She texted Will; "definitely not thinking about the message. you were amazing tonight, please eat something and take your medicine! I don't have enough energy for any more hospital stays."

About five seconds went by and then she heard her phone buzz. "if I had known that being in the hospital was the best way to get you to my bedside, then I'd have done it sooner."

Her eyes went wide in shock. She had expected an attitude, but not a sexy one! "I don't want to be at your bedside. It was very uncomfortable."

buzz buzz. "But hospital beds aren't big enough for two."

He's actually flirting with me, she thought. "Which is why I'm enormously relieved that you are home. are you high? ;) " she hated to ask, but it wasn't worth wondering about it all night.

buzz buzz. "nope. leave me alone Mac, I'm supposed to be resting."

After a few moments Mackenzie realized that she was smiling like an idiot into her phone. She finally got up and headed to the bathroom to shower before putting on her new pajamas and passing out for a well-deserved dreamless night of sleep.

...

In midtown Will McAvoy had an equally dorky grin on his face. After three months of thinking that she was rejecting him, every conviction that he had held about his relationship – or lack thereof- with Mackenzie was overturned. The curtains had been drawn and the light had come in. He didn't know for sure how she felt, but he knew that she hadn't rejected him, and her insistence on the message as well as her admission that it had been her at Northwestern, had changed his entire perspective.

It was far too much to digest right now, especially with the mother load of a news report he had given that night. The one thing that he did know though, was that when he realized that she had never received that message, his life took a turn for the better.

…

Will managed to get his normal afternoon appointment with Dr. Habib rescheduled for first thing Wednesday morning. He hadn't gone into work until late afternoon on Tuesday, due to other checkups and tests from his recent hospital stay, and his only real contact with Mac had been during the show. On the outside it would not have appeared that anything between them was different, but he knew that something was. It scarred the living daylights out of him.

"So all this time, you thought she had been rejecting you, based on a voicemail that she never received?" the young doctor asked.

"Pretty much." Will gruffly answered, "I think the worst part is that for the past three months I have been such an ass to her. I knew I was being hard on her, but what I did with the whole Brian thing, is making me feel like the biggest jerk."

"Well it's good that you realize that you were punishing her. Now what are you going to do about it? How did she react when she discovered that the message was left?" Dr. Habib felt like getting Will to forgive Mackenzie, a woman he'd never met, would probably be one of the greatest triumphs of his career. Will needed to learn how to move on in a healthy way from things that hurt him.

Will thought about it for a moment, "At first she didn't react, like she hadn't really thought about it, and then she started pestering me non stop. It was cute actually."

"Where was she when you were in the hospital?" he asked.

"It was her that found me in my apartment, and she stayed by my bedside pretty much the entire time. Even though I treated her like crap." Will was letting the guilt build up inside of him.

"So now you know she wasn't rejecting you because she never got your message, and despite the fact that you have treated her horribly, especially in the past three months, she was the one who found and stayed by your bedside in the hospital. Other than guilty, how does this make you feel?" He waited for Will's answer by doodling a little on his notepad.

"Like there's a shot in hell that she's still in love with me?" His eyes were bright with excitement.

"So whats more important? Her still being in love with you, or you being able to forgive her?" Dr. Habib was feeling pretty good about this progress.

"Both. I need both of those things to happen." Will answered resolutely.

...

Mac was sitting at her desk working on reading through the love/hate mails they had been receiving from the show on Monday. She was happy to see that their ratings had not dropped. In fact they had gained a substantial amount of viewers in the younger age bracket. This was great news; indeed, they would have to keep up the work. The more kids from Camelot there were to watch them, the better, in her opinion.

She looked up as Will entered her office and sat a Starbucks cup on her desk. "What's this?" she asked.

"A latte." he stated simply.

"Umm, thanks?" she answered as she took a sip of what turned out to be a cinnamon dulce latte. It was delicious and the Dulcinea reference was not lost on her. "Yummy," she said after taking a sip and noticing Will looking quite pleased with himself, "how are you feeling?"

"Excellent," he answered, "still can't eat anything that tastes good, but it should be better in a couple weeks."

"Well we'll have to go out for vindaloo once you're cleared for spices." she joked.

Will instinctively grabbed his stomach and made a funny face, to which Mac chuckled. "We will," he said.

The moment seemed to linger until there was a knock on her office door. It was Charlie. "Just the two fools I was looking for." He greeted them as he patted Will on the back and stopped in front of Mac's desk. "Well the rating are good, and Leona is pleased, well she's pleased with us, I think she may have killed her son by now and put his body in the trunk of her limo. And more importantly, we are the popular kids on the block now, so we better not screw it up. Feels good to voice an opinion doesn't it?"

Will kept quiet, but the expression on his face betrayed his satisfaction. Mackenzie spoke up between sips of her latte, "Absolutely, it's very satisfying."

Will finally spoke up, "If I'm going to receive death threats I'd rather they be a result of me saying something I actually believe in."

"Me too McAvoy, me too." Charlie answered, "Can you meet me for lunch later? I need to go over some stats with Mackenzie, and I think you will find them exceptionally boring."

"Sure," Will answered, "I'll see you later, you too Mac." Their eyes met and held for a minute before he turned around and exited her office.

Mackenzie was completely unaware of the ridiculous look on her face as she watched Will leave, but Charlie was not. "What did you need to go over with me?" she asked after a few seconds.

"Nothing." Charlie answered as he sat down opposite her desk. "How are you and Will?"

Mac crinkled her nose in confusion before realizing he had not come down here for a business meeting. "We're okay?" she answered, "Maybe a little better than before the article. I don't know what he's thinking."

"Look he hasn't told me anything, but I did know about the message he left you." Charlie said.

"You did?! What did it say?" Mac asked excitedly.

"It's not my place to tell you, and I don't know the specifics anyway, but what I do know is that the look on Will's face when he realized that you had never heard it was one of the happiest I've ever seen him give. Certainly the most happy in the past four years." He paused for a moment to let his words sink in, "Don't give up on him Mackenzie. He's spent a lot of time thinking you ignored what he said, and now he knows that you didn't."

Mac thought for a moment. "So bringing Brian in. He did that specifically to punish me. God, he probably feels like shit about that, no wonder he's been so..."

"Nice?" Charlie finished her sentence. Mac simply nodded in agreement. "Look he may not have completely gotten over what happened before you left, but he has definitely leveled the field a little bit."

Though she thought that getting this kind of advice from Charlie seemed a bit strange, she didn't have a lot of friends to ask, and he knew the two of them better than anyone. "What do you think I should do?" she asked.

Charlie considered her for a moment. "It depends on the outcome you want. If you want Will to forgive you so that your working relationship becomes stronger, then I would be really nice and make sure you don't give him any inclination that you are interested in more than that..."

"And if I want more?" She asked.

"Then keep giving him a hard time about everything and go out of your way to frustrate him." He smiled at her as he answered. "Do you know what you want?"

"I've been working thirty feet from it the past eighteen months and I'm about to go insane if I don't get it. I just, love him, so much." She looked bewildered as she spoke.

"Then keep doing what you're doing." He stood up and headed for the door, "Mac, you know how long it takes wounds to heal, he's getting there."

Mac nodded as Charlie left her office. Sitting and waiting was so difficult sometimes, but she knew that there was nothing she could do to make Will forgive her faster. She just had to keep on the narrow path, and hope the light at the end of the tunnel would come sooner rather then later.

…

The next week things around the office had resumed their usual pace. Mackenzie and Will were expected to attend a meeting with all the other anchors from the varied programs about how the network was going to cover the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Neither was particularly looking forward to the meeting, but they needed to be team players with the network. Having leverage with Leona didn't excuse them from everything.

"Will, are you ready to head down?" Mac poked her head in Will's office about ten minutes before they needed to be downstairs. Will was just putting out a cigarette and standing up from behind his desk.

"Ready as ever." He said as he followed her through the door into the newsroom. She felt his hand every so slightly touch the small of her back as they walked to the elevator bay.

When the doors opened they stepped in alone. As soon as they closed Will started speaking abruptly. "Are you ignoring me?"

The shock on Mac's face was obvious, "What?! No! Not at all! Why would you think that?"

Will eyed her with suspect, but her reaction was genuine. "I just didn't expect you to give up so easily."

'Oh' Mac thought, 'he's on about the message.' She then chose her words carefully and took a small step to fill the space between them. Her free hand touched his arm. "I was just trying to give you space to decide what you wanted to do, that's all. Do you want me to pester you more?" She asked innocently.

Suddenly the air in the elevator became very hot as Will gazed into Mac's eyes. "I wouldn't mind that," he finally said.

Mac smiled and noticed that they were almost at their designated floor. She frowned a little when she realized that this close contact was soon to be over. Before she knew what was happening, Will hit the emergency stop button.

"Will what are you doing?!" She shouted in alarm, but before she could do anything else, he had her backed against the wall of the elevator, his face mere inches from hers. His hand came up to touch her face.

As he gazed intensely into her eyes he said, "Mac, I just need you to know that I'm trying." It had been a long time since they had been this close and he savored in her smell. He pressed his forehead against hers.

The sensation of being so close to Will had immediately turned her on, but she wasn't sure if now was the time for this to happen. She finally spoke, "I want you to keep trying. Please don't stop." Her words were honest, and she wanted nothing more than to press her lips to his, but this had to be his choice, not hers.

He inched away from her so that he could look into her eyes, his hands on either side of her face. The desire to kiss her was so strong, but he knew how it would affect him and he couldn't afford to go into this meeting in that state. He took his thumb and ran in down the length of her nose, which made both of them smile, backed up and pressed the emergency button again, which immediately started the elevator. Having worked in the ACN building for a long time, he knew how long it took for the elevator being stopped to actually trigger an alarm, and he figured they had about ten more seconds, but now wasn't the time to push the limits.


	2. Chapter 2

thanks for reading and for the reviews. here comes the hurricane!

Chapter 2

The rest of August went by quickly. The team was busy with stories from the Republican candidates, as well as preparing for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 broadcast.

Other than a few late night flirtatious texts, there had been very little private contact between Mac and Will. Mac was riding him as hard as ever about perfecting his interviews, which was fine with him, especially since she had taken to wearing slightly shorter skirts and higher heels around the office. Will would never complain about having too much of a view of Mac's legs. He felt himself becoming more dependent on her, and he was happy that despite what he would have thought, he wasn't upset about it.

The last week in August proved to be eventful though. For the first time since the 1970's New York City expected to be struck by a hurricane. They weren't sure how hard Hurricane Irene would hit the city, but the storm was huge and even if the winds weren't terrible, it would dump an enormous amount of water on the narrow island of Manhattan. Low lying areas of the city were evacuated and shelters were being set up.

"Does everyone in the evacuation zones have a place to stay for the weekend?" Mac asked the staff at their pre-show meeting. "Mayor Bloomberg says that he is starting a gradual shut down of the MTA tonight and that all subway lines will be closed by noon tomorrow."

"I think we're all good Mac," said Jim "Everyone's got instructions to fill their bath tubs with water and make sure the windows are duct taped, just like you said."

"Good," she replied, "After the show tonight I want you all out of here as quickly as possible. Be safe! Now get out of here and get ready for the show!"

Everyone piled out of the conference room except for Will and Mac. She looked up from her blackberry to see him standing in front of her. Suddenly her skin erupted in goose bumps. This was the first time they had been alone in a room together since the elevator.

"You're the only person who works here whose apartment is in the evacuation zone, " Will calmly stated.

"I know," She replied, "I've been trying to find a hotel to stay in all day, I've got my suitcase in my office." She looked back at her blackberry in frustration, all the hotels were totally booked, and she really didn't want to have to go to Jersey or Connecticut.

Will put his hand on her phone and pushed it down as he stepped closer to her. Her eyes went up to meet his. "You're staying with me."

She breathed in to begin her protest, but his hand pressed firmly on her wrist and she knew that he wouldn't take no for an answer. Butterflies seemed to be moving around inside of her stomach. "Okay, thanks, that sounds...great." She managed a smile for him.

...

After the broadcast Will peeked his head into Mac's office, where she was just throwing a few things in her purse. "Ready?" he asked. He had been hesitant to ask her to stay with him, but he knew she was in a tight spot, and he also thought that being confined to his apartment together for a few days might force them to talk about some of the issues he had been skirting around lately. Or it could end in murder. Either way, something would probably happen.

"Yep, let's go," she said as she grabbed her rolling carry-on case.

"I'll get it, " Will said as he took the suitcase from her. His hand closed over hers for a moment before she moved it away.

"Thanks, Will, I really appreciate you letting me stay with you, otherwise I'd be headed to the Jersey City Day's Inn." Mac pushed the down button on the elevator.

"Can I tell you a secret?" he asked as the door opened and the stepped in. Mac simply nodded in response. "I was hoping all week that this might happen."

Mackenzie laughed, as the elevator kept moving down. "Oh really? Then why didn't you make your offer before now? It could have made my life a lot easier."

"I didn't want to be too obvious, plus I figured if you had enough time, you'd figure out some way to back out of it." He reached over and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear that was intruding his view of her face.

"Well done then, sir. You have been successful." Mackenzie smiled. The thought of spending the next 48 hours with will was unnerving, but not terrifying. She was actually excited about the prospect of them being alone together. "Want to know a secret?" she asked him.

"Only if it's a good one." A look of sadness briefly went across his face, but it was only momentary.

" All week, I was hoping you'd ask." She didn't see his face go from the questioning sorrow to a mischievous grin, but she felt it on her back as she walked out of the elevator.

Lonny was waiting for them at the door and walked them to Will's car for the quick drive through midtown to his apartment. The normally bustling streets of Manhattan were all but abandoned, and humid still air left an ominous feeling for the storm that was coming their way.

It was Lonny that spoke first when they reached Will's apartment. "At least I don't have to worry about you going anywhere this weekend."

"Nope, doesn't look like a good one for outdoor activities." Will responded, "You get home safe Lonny. Have a good one."

"You too." He said as he turned to go back to the car. "Ms. McHale," he nodded at Mac as he turned around.

"Bye Lonny," she said as they headed up to Will's apartment.

When they stepped out of the elevator into Will's apartment, Mac was shocked at how dark it was. "They made us close the storm shutters", Will said as he turned on the light, "Kills the view doesn't it?"

Will's apartment, which was usually bright with panoramic views of the city, was more like the inside of a greenhouse painted black right now. The only way to see outside was the door that led out to the balcony.

"I guess it makes it more cozy." Mac said as she looked around. "Where's your extra bedroom?"

"Right this way madam," Well gestured her to follow him to the side of the apartment where she knew his office to be. "Sorry it's so small, but at least you have your own bathroom."

The spare bedroom was just that. It had a full size bed that looked like it had never been slept in, a lamp, and a door that connected it to a full size bathroom, which also connected to the office. "Looks good to me," she said as she put her purse down on the bed. Will had rolled her suitcase in for her.

"Want to order dinner? I figure it's probably our last shot for takeout. I have stuff for breakfast and a few things in the freezer, but we could order out tonight if you want." Will looked a little shy, like he didn't want to give away too much of his plan.

"That sounds good. I'll eat whatever, let me get changed out of my work clothes okay?" She answered.

"I'll leave you to it then." Will said as he awkwardly backed out of the small room.

Will went back to his bedroom where he changed out of his suit into a pair of sweats and his favorite soft t-shirt. When he was finished he picked up the phone and called Bejing Wok.

Even though the guest room was small, it made Mac feel tiny in it. Like she didn't really belong in Will's apartment. She tried to suppress the feeling while she changed into her pajamas and washed her face of the makeup she had been wearing. She was glad that she had packed the wrap top to go with the Pj's, as it gave her a little more modesty than the cotton tank and pants provided. After a few minutes she emerged into Wills living room where he was pouring her a glass of white wine.

"Nice PJ's." He smiled at her has he handed her a glass.

"Thanks Billy," she smiled as she took the glass and went to the couch to sit down. "What's for dinner?"

"A medley of the Orient." He said enthusiastically as he came over to the couch and sat a few feet from her. "It will probably be about another half hour, I guess a lot of other people had the same idea."

"That's fine, want to watch a movie or something." She suggested. She really hoped that he had some DVD's somewhere incase the cable went out during the storm.

"Why were you at Northwestern?" Will looked at her directly as he said it.

Mac hadn't expected him to ask her something like that, especially since she'd only been in his apartment for twenty minutes. She tried to cover her shock and took a sip of the crisp sauvignon blanc to buy her a moment to think about it.

"I…" she started, "I, well, I was in Chicago interviewing for a position at the university, when I got the call from Charlie. He offered me the job, and said that you were in town that weekend and that perhaps I'd like to meet up with you before making a decision." She paused for breath before going on, "I knew you wouldn't answer my phone calls, so I looked up your agenda and saw that you were going to be in that talk back session. I was desperate to see you, and I figured it was my only chance."

"Why did you care about seeing the lecture, if you didn't think I would talk to you anyway?" he asked.

'Here goes,' Mac thought to herself before verbalizing her thoughts. "Two reasons. One, I thought that perhaps if you ran into me, or you saw me in the audience, you might not totally ignore me."

"What was the other?" Will took a long sip of his drink.

"Billy, I was so desperate to lay eyes on you. I hadn't seen you in three years, and you had ignored all my emails. I wanted to see how you were, but I also wanted to know how seeing you would make me feel. I couldn't give Charlie an answer till I saw you."

Will looked at her as though he understood. "How did seeing me make you feel?"

"You looked so defeated. Totally different from how I had tried to remember you. You looked horrible. It ripped my heart in two because I knew that any way you looked at it, it was at least partially my fault. Then I felt the need to help you, which is why I made those signs…" She looked away as if she were embarrassed.

"So you came back because you felt sorry for me?" Will asked.

Mac quickly looked back at him, "No!" she almost cried, "I came back because I was still in love with you, and seeing that you were still so broken, made me hope you still hadn't moved on…because I hadn't either…I still haven't."

He wasn't sure if it were her admission, or her almost being in tears that moved something inside of him, but regardless he reached over for her and pulled her into a deep hug. He held her for a moment and breathed in her smell. He missed the way she felt in his arms. "I'm glad you did come back," he smoke softly into her hair, "I thought the best way to get over this was just to move on, but I can't move on without you. Every day you have been back I have started to feel more and more alive. I need you."

It hadn't been an 'I love you,' but it affirmed what Mac had been hoping for the past 18 months. There was a possibility of a future with them. She moved her arms from his chest and wrapped them around his neck as she looked at him and smiled before hugging him even more tightly. He responded by simply holding her.

"Thank you for telling me that." He spoke into her neck.

Just then, the doorbell rang with their Chinese food.

Mac pulled back and regrouped herself, Will looked disappointed as he got up, grabbed a few $20s and went to push the button on his door buzzer. Then Mac got up and went into the kitchen where she pulled out plates and napkins for them both as Will waited in front of the elevator for the delivery guy.


	3. Chapter 3

a/n. beware two things. 1) some fluff, but lets be honest. it needed it. and 2) if you are offended at the casual use of cannabis, then this chapter will offend you. you have been warned.

again, thanks for reading and for all your kind words!

Chapter 3

Dinner went by amicably. They were sitting closely in front of the coffee table/Chinese buffet. Will had turned the TV on the weather to track the storm that they were waiting to be struck by.

"Do you think they will call us in?" Will asked between bites of his fried rice.

"No" said Mackenzie affirmatively, "Its not going to be national news unless it's the next Katrina, which it definitely won't be because they keep downgrading its size. It's a job for the local news. Aren't you glad you're not them?" Mac grabbed the remote and flipped it to NY1 where they saw a very young looking weather girl standing on the beach in Rockaway Park getting blown to smithereens by hurricane winds.

They both cringed and then started to laugh at the poor girl. "Its not funny…" Mackenzie tried to get out between laughs.

"What?" Will asked, "That we are in a luxury apartment eating Chinese takeout while that girl is getting the shit blown out of her for a newscast that only New Yorkers will see?" He laughed. "Yes, that is funny."

Mac wiped her nose and sat her plate down on the table. She leaned back and made a deep stretch with her arms. "I'm stuffed." She said.

…

After cleaning up the dishes and watching this weeks DVRed episodes of The Daily Show, Will and Mac were comfortably settled on the couch. He, facing forward with his legs on the table, and her, sideways with her feet in his lap. Will had one hand on her ankle, and the other on the remote, looking through the listings.

"Its sad," Mac began, "That other than you, Jon Stewart is the only person out there reporting the news."

Will managed a chuckle. "Jon's a good guy. We smoked together. That's a deep bond."

"Do you ever wish you could be as 'out of the closet' about your personal politics as he is? His audience is a fraction of yours, but damn it must feel good to just slam people for being the idiots they really are." She digressed.

"But his object is to entertain people who already agree with his mantra, not to inform the general public. I have higher esteem for human life than he does, I believe. I suppose it makes me a bit ridiculous some times though…"

Mac had been watching him intently while he spoke, "You're right. We have a higher goal than entertainment. If every news show was as researched as us, Jon wouldn't have a job though."

"Well fortunately for Jon, that's never going to happen." He smiled as he finally gave up on finding something else to watch, "I'm going to bed." He said, gently picking up her feet and placing them on the couch as he got up.

"Good idea. I'm exhausted." She said as she got up and padded off in the direction of her room.

"Mackenzie." Will stopped her, "Goodnight." He smiled while she bid him a goodnight and headed to the spare bedroom.

The second she entered the small white room however, Mackenzie became as alert as ever. Her mind raced 'what happened between you?' 'did you tell him too much about Northwestern?' 'He didn't say he loved you, and you definitely sort of said it to him. What does this mean?'

She brushed her teeth, turned out the lights, and no sooner than she had pulled back the bedspread, was her blackberry buzzing with an incoming text.

It was from Will. "is your bed comfy?"

She smiled as she typed back, "I've slept on worse."

Buzz buzz. "what, they don't have ikea in Islamabad?"

"oh no its much nicer than ikea. four poster beds and fluffy down pillows." Send.

Buzz buzz. "I knew you were bluffing on that all this time. That's why I put a pea under your mattress, Princess Winifred."

She let out a laugh. "Once Upon a Mattress" had always been her favorite musical, and only Will would know that she had played the lovable Princess Fred in her high school production. "damnit now I'll never be able to sleep!"

Buzz buzz. "get in here."

He didn't have to tell her twice. She knew that this invitation to Will's bed was probably for sleeping purposes only, but she just wanted to be close to him. It also made her feel slightly more assured that what she had told him earlier was being received the way she had hoped.

She sat up and headed through the dark apartment into Will's room, where he was holding open the covers for her. She slipped in to the covers and turned so her back was spooned comfortably against his chest. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed the back of her head.

…

The wind whipped through the grid of midtown at considerable speeds. It was relatively calm for a hurricane, but very loud, especially in Will's apartment. The noise woke him a few times throughout the night, but once he felt the soft warm body snuggled next to him, he managed to fall back asleep quickly and soundly.

Around eleven he felt Mackenzie begin to stir. He was laying on his back now, and she was draped partially over him, one leg between his, her small hand resting on his chest and her head snuggled under his chin. As she appeared to be waking, she began to draw little circles on his chest with her fingers, which despite her semi conscious state was extremely arousing. This only contributed to his growing discomfort at the realization that her thinly adorned breasts were pressed up against him. He figured he better get up before he made this situation awkward. Though the thought of what Mac would do if she woke up with his erection pressed to her thigh was amusing to him...it also made him very sure that he better get out of bed while he had the chance.

He tried to gracefully slip out from underneath him, but she woke groggily. "Will?" she asked half asleep. She seemed slightly confused at her whereabouts.

"Hey, Mac, go back to sleep, I'm going to make us some breakfast." He kissed her on the forehead as she snuggled back into his pillows.

"Mmmkay, thanks..." she said breathily and with a smile on her face she was back asleep.

Being a man of practicality, Will naturally turned on his coffee pot before getting in the shower and taking care of his growing need. Having her so close was extremely difficult. It took everything in his being not to make love to her like there was no tomorrow, but there unfortunately was a tomorrow, and they would both have to deal with the consequences of it.

After his shower he checked to see Mac still snoozing in his bed. She looked like an angel. The truth was, he was so madly in love with her that it hurt to have her so close, but still at arms length. He wanted to make a move in the right direction with her, but it had to be the right moment.

He felt like every minute that had passed since he realized that she never received his message in May, he had been falling more in love with her than ever, and his reasons for hating her were becoming fewer and fewer.

'Time heals everything' he thought, 'damnit there really is a show tune for everything.'

...

Mac woke up to the delicious smell of bacon cooking, coffee brewing, and Will. For a moment she just laid in his bad and breathed in the delectable aroma. She had slept better last night than she had in four years.

As she padded out of Will's room she stretched and yawned the sleep away. "Good morning" she said between yawns as she spotted Will in the kitchen.

"Hi," he replied sheepishly, "you slept well?"

She nodded and walked over to the kitchen where Will was working on some pancake batter. "Looks amazing. Let me just go get changed and I'll help you."

Will chuckled a little. Mac was no kitchen wiz, but he could probably find some minor task she'd be helpful with. Or she could just keep him company.

Mackenzie retreated to the guest room where she, used the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and changed into a pair of black yoga pants and a slouchy sweater. It may have been the end of August, but it was cool in Will's apartment.

As she walked up behind him in the kitchen she spotted a white hand rolled cigarette, what she presumed to be filled with marijuana, on the counter. "Isn't it a little early for this?" she said as she picked up the joint and ran it under her nose to confirm its contents.

"Oh please, like you've never enjoyed a nice wake and bake on a Saturday morning." He flirted back with her. Actually he knew for a fact that Mackenzie occasionally indulged in one of his favorite vices. "Want to spark it?" he asked.

"Mmmmmm...okay." she was trying to be coy, but she was actually pretty pumped at this idea. Will always had good ideas.

She grabbed the lighter next to it and put the joint in her mouth. Once she had it going she took a deep drag, held it in for a few seconds, blew it out, and handed the joint to Will. Will watched her intently. She looked hot smoking that jay, and those yoga pants only added to the magic. 'God bless whoever created yoga pants.' He thought to himself. He took a few long drags as he sprayed his electric skillet with cooking oil.

"Best way to start the weekend." He commented as he handed Mac the joint.

"I should smoke weed more often. It makes everything better." She said after a few hits. "Why is this illegal again?"

"Because the FDA can't compete with a drug you can grow in your backyard?" He answered.

"Total bullocks." She answered as she took another long hit.

"Okay princess, don't get too high, I don't want you bugging out in my apartment." He laughed as he took the joint out of her hand.

"What? I was just commenting!" She started laughing. Will was right. That was enough for her. "I need to eat something!"

"Okay, you set the table, the pancakes will be up in a few minutes." Will was busy flipping his pancakes at just the right time so that they would turn out perfect.

Mac busied herself with the plates and silverware before finding a mug for herself and making a cup of coffee. She grabbed a piece of bacon from the paper towel where Will had set them to strain off the grease. "Mmm" she munched happily.

As she waited for Will to finish she walked over to the one piece of open window. "Looks pretty grim out there." She commented on the weather.

She turned around to Will setting a big stack of pancakes on the table. "But fortunately, its looking brighter and brighter in here every minute." He smiled at her for a moment until she returned his grin and then turned around and went back to the kitchen for his coffee mug. Mac was right behind him grabbing the rest of the bacon and the bowl of fruit she had seen in the fridge.

As they devoured their breakfast Will had turned on the news and the weather report. "Nothing very exciting happening out there, just a giant grey rain cloud." He commented between bites.

"Hmm?" She absently said as she looked from her plate up to him.

He burst out laughing at her expression.

"What?!" She questioned.

"How long have you been trying to act normal?" He asked.

Mackenzie was only slightly dismayed that her cover was busted. "Since that first hit," she confessed, "Its been a long time since I smoked!" She broke into a series of chuckles, which made Will laugh even more.

"Just keep eating," he said, "we can't all be medical marvels like me."

"Can we play Trivial Pursuit later?" She asked, suddenly very excited.

"Absolutely." He laughed as he took another sip of coffee and finished his breakfast, "Mac, this day is going to be awesome."

"I KNOW!" she responded in kind.


	4. Chapter 4

a/n: this might receive a higher rating due to language. i'm not sure exactly how the rating system defines profanity. again, thanks for the reviews! you guys are great!

Chapter 4

Both Will and Mac had five out of their six requisite pie pieces filled. Their Trivial Pursuit game had been one of professional quality. Mac was missing her pink pie slice - the arts and entertainment one- and Will was missing his science and nature one. He knew he was at a disadvantage because Mac knew her entertainment, but she just couldn't land on the coveted pink question.

Will was remembering more than ever how he had been more attracted to Mackenzie than any other woman he'd ever known. She was so smart and clever, but always had a way of screwing things up When she was heated and trying to make a point. He found it adorable.

At last, Mac had her pie piece on a pink square. "You know that even if you get this right, you still have to get to the middle and answer a question from a category that I chose." Will said.

"Oh shutup Billy, you know that never pans out in a two player game. If I get this I win. Read the question." she responded.

He nodded curtly. He knew that if he had gotten all six pieces first he would be the one gloating too, so there was no point in arguing. "Okay. In 1973,this actor became one of the only people to win an Academy Award and a Tony Award for playing the same role." As soon as he read it he knew he'd lost. Mac knew her musical theatre trivia just as well as he did.

Mackenzie narrowed her eyes and thought for a second before the look of achievement flooded her face. " JOEL GREY AS THE EMCEE IN CABARET!" she squealed with glee as she raised her arms in victory.

Will threw the question card down on the table and watched her over the top reaction. He couldn't help but laugh, but then he saw it.

Her arms had raised her sweater high enough that her stomach was exposed, and what he saw almost made him physically ill. It was the ugly and large jagged scar from the knife wound she'd received while covering a protest in Islamabad. He'd known about the stabbing, but he'd never seen the scar.

"Mac," He interrupted as he crawled over to her from his side of the coffee table. She wasn't sure at first what he was doing when he put his hand on her stomach, but she pieced it together quickly.

"Will don't," she protested, but it was too late. His fingers were tracing the outline of the jagged scar across her abdomen. "It looks worse than it was."

Will looked up at her. He knew she was lying. He had read that she almost bled to death while trying to get to a hospital. At the time he had separated himself from the situation and told himself that there was nothing to be done. "This should never have happened," he said, "you should never have been over there. If I had just..." but he couldn't finish his sentence. It was too painful.

"Will, we can't change what happened. This isn't your fault." She continued to let him rest his hand on her stomach, but it was making all the hairs on her neck stand straight up.

He looked back down at the ugly mark. "You shouldn't have a scar like this."

"You're right," she suddenly became rather pointed, " If I hadn't cheated on you then you wouldn't have broken up with me, I never would have left, and I'd be sitting here on the floor with you with that Tiffany ring on my finger, and instead of this scar, I'd probably have one from a c-section from the adorable child we could have had, but I DID cheat, and I DO have that scar, so here I am. I got what I deserved."

"How can you possibly think you deserved this?" He pondered aloud.

"At the time, the pain from the wound was preferable to the pain I felt every time I thought about you. It actually made me feel better, like I had paid the price." She answered.

"You did not deserve this. Mac," he said as he started tracing the scar with his fingers again, "I'm so sorry that I couldn't forgive you." He looked directly into her eyes, "I've punished you so much over the past months and you've just taken it."

"It was nothing after what I did to you." She answered in a small voice.

"But it doesn't make it right." he quickly answered back.

"It physically hurt me to be away from you. When you kicked me out of the apartment..." She couldn't finish the thought without cringing, "I know it's fucked up, but being near you, even though it's been hard, has been better."

They hadn't ever discussed the last time they'd spoken before she left his life for three solid years. It had been a horrible fight. She'd begged him for forgiveness, and he had been unrelenting. Will felt like he had been stabbed just thinking of that night, but he realized that the stabbing feeling wasn't because of what Mackenzie had done, but at the expression his words had left on her face. 'Could this be what forgiveness feels like?' he thought.

She saw the pain in his expression, but wasn't sure what memory he was recalling. "Billy, I need you to love me again." She had nothing to lose at this point.

A few moments went by in silence. "Will?" she questioned.

"I never stopped." He answered, and before she could register what he had said, his lips were on hers.

The moment was ecstasy. There lips had not touched in years, but they had both often fantasized about this moment. The reality was much better than the imagined. She immediately opened her mouth to him, and their tongues collided in a mixture of need, love, and longing. His hand that was on her stomach had encircled her rib cage and moved to her lower back, pulling her to him, and his other was at the base of her skull. Both of her hands were tangled in his hair. The kiss was full and deep.

When they finally broke apart, each gasping for air, they immediately launched back into one another, with a passion neither had experienced before. He pulled her tightly against him and her legs, which had been crossed on the floor wound around his waist. He pushed her to the ground and his hands were now getting reacquainted with her sizable breasts. Her hands lifted his shirt over his head and as soon as it was gone he was back at her neck trailing kisses everywhere he could get his lips.

She could feel his erection pressing against her thigh and her need was building quickly. She moaned in pleasure as he started rocking against her. "Will..."

Something in her voice made him pull back and look at her face. He saw her desire, but he also realized something else. He had to tell her the truth about the ring. She needed to know.

"What?" she questioned the moment she saw his hesitation.

His brain was about to combust. He needed to be inside of Mackenzie, but he couldn't let this go. If they were going to start off again, they had to be totally honest. The pained expression on his face was alarming. "I..." He still wasn't sure what to do. 'Have mind blowing sex and then piss her off, or piss her off and hope she forgives you...' he thought.

Mac wasn't having it. She pushed him up until they were sitting upright, "Will? What is wrong?"

Now the moment was gone anyway. He ran his hands through his hair, which only a moment ago had Mac's tiny fingers in it. "The ring..." he started, "I..."

"Yes?" she questioned.

"Look I just, I have to tell you before this goes any further, that I lied to you about something, and it was a shitty fucking thing to do." He needed to just blurt it out because she looked utterly bewildered. "I don't want us to start a new relationship with any still existing secrets."

"Spit it out Will, what did you do?" she was pissed now and she didn't even know what about. There were such extreme emotions going on in her body right now she thought her heart might give in.

"The ring...from Tiffany. I didn't buy it for you four years ago. I bought It when I thought that you were going to look into that deal with Fox. I wanted you think it was for you all those years ago." He felt her body move away from his before he even finished his sentence. She was standing up already and looking down at him.

"You bought it just to fuck with me?!" She asked. He couldn't respond. He just looked at her. "Will!" It was more of a cry then a scream.

"Mac I know it was a horrible thing to do, but I was in a really bad place at the time and I feel terrible." He stood up as he spoke, but when he tried to close the space between them she was moving quickly away from him towards the guest room. He followed her quickly. "Mac!" but it was too late, and the door was slammed shut in his face. "Mac, I'm sorry!"

On the other side of the door Mac was barely keeping it together. She knew that he was trying to do the right thing by telling her but she would really rather not known that fact. "Will I just need some space right now." she answered.

Will was on the verge of choking up, "Mackenzie please don't do this..." he begged.

"Will just give me some space." she answered as she leaned against the door.

"I love you." He said to the door.

The words she had longed to hear, but not the way she had hoped to hear them shot a sudden pain through her chest. "I know."

Will waited outside the door, but when he heard the shower turn on he knew, at least for now, that the situation was hopeless.

...

PS: I'M SORRY! i know its a mean place to leave off, but i'm not one of those fanfic writers who will leave them in this situation for too long...they are trapped in an apartment together after all! don't hate!


	5. Chapter 5

a/n this may be a little teensy higher in rating. i like the f word, and i have a hard time limiting its use. also, there may be some, umm adult content. its not that graphic but you have been warned.

Chapter 5

Mac knew that her reaction, while justified, was over dramatic. It was the combination of emotional high and low, mixed with the electric charge that had erupted between them when they kissed that made it seem so awful.

She knew Will wasn't trying to hurt her now. It had happened a while ago, but the realization that just a few months ago he had gone that out of the way just to crush her even more, made her want to crumble into a ball and cry. She was emotionally spent when she undressed and stepped into the steaming hot shower.

...

Will wandered back into his living room and starred at the Trivial Pursuit game on the coffee table, his shirt on the floor, and couldn't believe that just a few minutes ago he and Mac had been pressed to that hard wood, their bodies mingled, and lips intertwined.

He cursed inwardly at himself as he out his shirt back on and cleaned up the game. 'Way to fuck things up, McAvoy,' he thought, 'you never should have kissed her until you came clean about the ring.' The truth was, the situation with the ring had been eating him up for a while. He did the right thing by telling her, he just wished it hadn't happened after that kiss.

That kiss. That amazing soul moving kiss. He smiled in spite of him self as he remembered it. It had felt so right to do it. His mouth belonged on hers.

He put away the board game and went into his room. He decided he would let Mac have some time to herself. He picked up his guitar and began to work on some music.

...

Mackenzie let the steaming hot water roll over her body. She needed to feel warm. The second she pulled away from Will's body she had been freezing. She scrubbed every portion of her body multiple times and washed and conditioned her hair. When she got out towel led off her hair, out her yoga pants and sweater back on without the bra she had been wearing earlier and crawled into bed.

She briefly looked at her blackberry. There was an email from her Dad making sure she was ok in the hurricane, as well as one from Jim, who had suddenly realized her apartment was in the evacuation zone, and that she could come stay with him if she needed to. She briefly responded to both that everything was fine and that she was staying with a friend before putting it back on the night table and burrowing herself into the blankets for a little rest.

She felt more hung-over from the emotional roller coaster than anything else, and she wished Will would come back to her door. She briefly considered that smoking again might help, but she tossed out that idea since it involved moving from her current position. As if on cue, she heard a gentle knock on the guest room door.

"Come in." she replied weakly. She tried to manage a smile for Will as he came in the door.

"Hi." he said with his hands I his pockets, like he had done something wrong.

"Hi," she responded, "I'm sorry I yelled."

"I'm sorry I picked the worst time to tell you that." he admitted as he walked to the bed.

Mac had been facing away from him but she turned over and lifted up the covers, "hold me." was all she said, but Will knew all way forgiven between them. He slipped into the bed with her and wrapped her in his arms.

A few moments went by before she looked up to face him. "So what happened to the ring?" she asked quietly.

His hand moved up to cup her cheek. "It's still in my desk drawer."

"You didn't return it?" she asked. Her hand reached up to take his away from her face and brought it up to her chest where she held it between both of hers.

"The truth is that I didn't buy the ring four years ago, but that ring is the one that I had always intended to buy you. I just didn't want to let it go. Dr. Habib was not impressed with my actions." At this he smiled a little.

"I bet he wasn't. It was a pretty ridiculous thing to do." she smiled back at him. "Will did you really say that you wanted to start a new relationship with me?" she asked. She knew pressing the point with the ring was silly.

"I did" he answered.

"Did you mean it?" she asked squeezing his hand tightly between hers.

"Yes." he stated simply.

"Then let's do it." she smiled.

"Starting now?" he asked.

"Hi, I'm Mackenzie. Nice to meet you." she didn't move, but the twinkle in her eye said it all.

Will leaned in and captured her lips in his. They lingered, becoming reacquainted with one another for a few minutes before they broke apart.

"That was not appropriate first date behavior." Mac chided him.

"Fuck, we should probably get out of this bed then." Will made a weak move to lift the duvet, but Mac smacked his hand down. It went around her waist and landed on her bottom, where it squeezed, hard.

At that moment Mac's Blackberry started vibrating.

"Ugh," she groaned as she reached over to get it. "its Maggie."

"Ignore. Why would she call her boss on a weekend?"

"No I better get it, hang on." she put the phone to her ear. "Hello."

Will could hear Maggie on the other line. "Umm hi Mac! Are you doing okay?"

"Yes, why are you calling?" she looked perplexed.

"Don and I just saw some of the footage from downtown and there is a lot of flooding. I couldn't remember exactly where you lived, but I was worried you needed a place to stay."

"Aww that's sweet, but I'm with a friend Maggie, so don't worry about me." She was genuine when she said it.

"Okay, great, the subways are supposed to be functioning on Monday as long as the rain stops sometime tomorrow. so I'll see you Monday!" the overly excited girl on the other line said.

"Thanks for calling. bye bye." Mac put her phone back down and looked at Will. "What's that smell?" the sudden smell of garlic and wine had invaded her nostrils.

"It's the crock pot." Will stated bluntly. "you were In here for a while so I made beef bourbinion."

"Seriously?!" Mac looked at him wide eyed.

"Well I cheated and used the Williams Sonoma sauce, but yes." Despite Mac having answered her phone, Will had not removed his hand from her ass. He had always loved her ass and he was running his hand in circles over the one cheek he had access to, occasionally pinching it between his fingers.

"Well I forgive you. How much longer does it have to cook?" Mac was finding it hard to concentrate with the attention Will was paying to her rear end. Not that she minded.

"Oh at least a few hours," he answered calmly, not betraying the butterflies in his stomach that had erupted when Mac started running her foot up and down the back of his calf.

"Good," she stated, and then her lips were on his. The intensity of their tryst in the living room had returned full force. Within minutes Mac found herself more turned on than she had been at any point in the past four years. It was obvious that Will felt the same.

At last Mac was perched on top of Will. They were both still fully clothes, but they both knew this was only a temporary distraction. She ground her hips into his and they both moaned with desire from it. She needed this to happen, and soon, or she was going to finish before they even got started. She knew Will was close too.

She rested her hands on the sides of Will's face and looked at him, the yearning evident in both of their eyes. "Lets just do this, we have time for the other stuff later."

"God, I love you." He had been thinking exactly the same thing. There would be plenty of time for him to lovingly reacquaint himself with every inch of her delectable body later. Right now, he just needed to be connected to her, in the most intimate way.

He reached out and grabbed her head and pulled her in for a deep kiss. Once he let go, he reached down and quickly tossed her sweater aside. Though momentarily detracted by the sight of his favorite set of breasts he remembered the task at hand and rolled over so that he could pin her beneath him. Yoga pants were next, followed by little black panties. The smell of her was intoxicating.

"I forgot it could be like this." He stated as he tossed her undergarment to the floor and traced the outline of her body with his hands.

"Me too." Mac replied, while finally divesting Will of his shirt and working on freeing his erection from his sweats and boxers. Her legs were open to him now, with nothing separating them. He hesitated a moment and looked at her face for reassurance.

"I love you too Billy. Now fuck me, please." The sincerity on her face was worth a million dollars.

"Yes ma'am." He didn't need to hear anything else.

…

meanwhile...uptown...

"She's totally at Will's!" Maggie said as soon as she got off the phone with Mac.

"She said she was with a friend." Don replied while lazily changing the channels. This was the most boring hurricane ever. Just bad enough so that he was cooped up inside with Maggie all weekend, but not dramatic enough to cause any lasting damage. "I wish this hurricane had happened on a week day, at least then we could get out of work."

"Ha. They would probably set up cots in the newsroom." Maggie said as she poured each of them another glass of red wine. They had been boozing since eleven. It was pretty much the only thing to do. Her sudden realization of Mac's current location had come to her totally randomly. "Think about it. She has no friends."

"She's friends with Sloan." Don pointed out.

"Call Sloan!"

That was the last thing Don wanted to do. "She's not a Sloan's. Sloan has a studio loft thingy…she mentioned it when she was re-signing her lease." He wasn't sure why he felt the need to cover here. He had in fact never done anything inappropriate with Sloan.

"Then she has to be at Will's!" Maggie yelped excitedly. "Look. She isn't at a hotel because she would have just said that, and she isn't with Jim because Lisa is at Jim's, and she isn't at Sloan's because, like you said, she lives in a loft, which would be super weird to have someone stay with you in, so by default: she is at Will's. Her and Will are shacking up."

Don had to admit, that there didn't seem to be any other logical explanation. "Why does this excite you so much?" he asked.

"One, because I'm right and I love being right. Two, because Mac and Will have been beating around the bush for the past eighteen months and what they really need to be doing is like getting married and having babies." She was breathless. He was bemused.

"Whatever it is, don't spread gossip." He responded. Whatever was happening between Will and Mac would come out eventually, but he didn't want Maggie to be the cause of it.

She opened her mouth to rebuttal, but he shut her up with a kiss.


	6. Chapter 6

The rain had finally stopped, and the skies of Manhattan had turned from black to a misty grey color. Mac stirred a little in bed, not quite sure of her surroundings. Then it hit her. First, the throbbing pain in her temple, then the memories from last night.

They had made love in the guest room. Quick, passionate, and amazing. Then she had started making them cocktails, oh yes, that was where this headache came from. Why did she have to be such a good bartender? Then they had feasted like kings on the meal Will had made them, listened to very loud old music….had they danced? There was definitely dancing. Then they had started to make love again, but had passed out almost as soon as they got to Will's bedroom in a cloud of exhaustion, probably brought on from the emotional roller coaster of they day, and drunkenness. "Errgh." Was the only noise she could manage.

Will was awake already. His hangover was not as severe, but he had been just as exhausted as she was when they tumbled into his bed last night. He had been watching her sleep for a little bit and thinking things over when she started to stir.

Mac rolled over and opened one eye, then the other, as they adjusted to the light in the room. "Hi…" she managed, much to Will's amusement.

When he looked at her, he knew they had made a mistake. It was too soon. They had finally come to a cross roads in their relationship where they were actually willing to start one again, and then they had gone and spent the entire weekend together as if no time at all had passed between them. This wasn't how it should be. They needed to take things slower.

"Oh god, what?" Mac said, "Did I throw up on you?"

He grinned, and ran a piece of hair behind her ear. "No. You didn't puke. How are you feeling?"

"Awesome. Never better." She sarcastically answered, "I need coffee."

"I think I can do something about that." Will said. He leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead before getting out of bed and heading to the kitchen. He didn't know how to bring this up with her, and pre-coffee would just be cruel.

The sex. There was that to consider. It had been mind blowing, albeit fast. Then they had had an outrageously fun time together drinking and eating. They had even danced to his old Beatles albums. Mac had looked so sexy holding a martini glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other. His love for her was growing every minute, but he didn't feel right about how fast this had happened. They couldn't just pick up where they had left off. They had to start again.

Mac was trying to motivate herself to get out of bed. What was she wearing? It appeared that she was naked. 'Great.' She thought. She didn't want to walk back through the living room in the nude, it felt undignified.

After about ten minutes Will had bacon and eggs going along with the coffee. He knew a greasy breakfast would be the best for both of their hangovers. Mac appeared wearing a t-shirt of his that she had fished out of his dresser. He smiled inwardly at the sight. "Oh theres my pants…" she pointed out her discarded yoga pants on the floor.

She walked over to Will and gave him a big hug from behind. "That smells heavenly," she said as she nestled her face into his back.

"Thanks." He replied, shortly.

Even in her fog Mac noticed his awkwardness. "What's wrong?"

"You're too good a bartender, is all." Will lied. He would bring it up after they had eaten. This was going to suck.

Mac made them both large steaming mugs of coffee before heading off to her room to put some real clothes on. When she returned a few minutes later her face was distraught.

Will set her breakfast sandwich in front of her on the bar. "Whats wrong?" he asked.

Mac took a bite of the sandwich. She made a satisfied noise as she chewed and swallowed. "Nothing." She said, "Just needed to get something in my stomach."

They ate their breakfast, despite the fact that it was much closer to lunchtime, in silence as they watched the news. They had been pretty isolated, it felt weird to finally see what was going on in the world.

Mac couldn't help but think that this was all too much for her to deal with. Now where would she stand with Will? What were they going to do at the office? Had they basically just picked things up where they left off? Questions were soaring through her thoughts like birds. All the while she couldn't help thinking that what had happened this weekend was the start of something amazing.

Will broke the silence. "I fucked this up," he figured he may as well put it out there.

Mackenzie was completely caught off guard. "What are you talking about? Oh God, you want me to leave, don't you?"

"No!" Will quickly answered, "I don't want you to leave, but the truth is, you're going to have to." Mac's face was stricken, "I mean, you are going to have to go home to your apartment eventually."

"But that's not what you meant." She was starting to freak out, "Will, do you regret this? Do you think it was a mistake?" She reached her hand out and he took it.

"I don't regret what happened, Mac, but I think it's a little…much. Its my fault because I instigated it by forcing you to stay here, and I'm so glad that we have figured out some things between us…because I love you. I really really do, and its got to be us, Mac. Its got to be us." He was so sincere it almost hurt to listen to him. He went on, "But we need to slow this down. I feel like asking you to move in with me, and I know that's the absolute worst thing we could do. We have barely just started being friends again, and now you're here, and in my bed, and I want you there, but I think we…"

"Need to take a step back." She finished his sentence. She looked pained, which killed Will, but she managed to exhale through it. She seemed to take a different approach. "You know how most couples have bonus night?"

He starred at her blankly.

"You know, when they break up for whatever reason, and then they have one hot night of bonus sex before the break up is official. Yesterday was our bonus night." She stopped and took a sip of coffee.

"But I don't want to break up with you, we're getting back together…I think…." He was confused.

"No!" she started, "We ARE getting back together, but we are a little unconventional, so lets look as what happened yesterday as our very belated bonus night, and starting now, we are starting fresh." She knew it was a weak pitch, but maybe he would go for it.

Will considered it. "Okay. But you realize we slept together on our first date last time."

"NEW RELATIONSHIP." She stated, "And it wasn't like we hadn't been flirting for months, but that's besides the point. Things are obviously going to work out differently this time, so I'm not sleeping with you on the first date. And you have to ask me out first anyway."

He smiled at her. "That seems like a good plan."

She smiled back broadly with a real sense of achievement. "Okay, so ask me out."

"Oh its not going to be that easy." He retorted. He couldn't let her have it that easy.

"Will!" she shrieked. "That's not fair!"

"Too bad Dulcinea, you'll just have to wait it out." And with that he picked up their breakfast dishes and walked to the kitchen.

….

The rest of the afternoon they watched TV, went over a few news articles together and came up with a few ideas for the coming week. Around four Mac looked at her phone and realized she needed to get back to her apartment at some point.

"Will I think I better head home soon." She started to collect her things around the living room, "I got an email from my building notifying me that the evacuation is no longer in effect. I guess my area didn't get flooded so badly."

He didn't want her to leave, but he knew it necessary. "I'll call you a car."

In thirty minutes she had all of her things ready and was standing next to the elevator. Will leaned in for a kiss. "Umm excuse me, aren't you supposed to ask me out first?" She said, jokingly.

"Shut up." He said as he covered her mouth with his own for a brief, but intense kiss.

Their hands were intertwined at their sides, and neither wanted to let go. Mackenzie smiled up at him, "Thanks for letting me stay."

"Any time." He kissed her again.

"So this is goodbye?" She said.

He chuckled, "Don't be over dramatic. I'll see you tomorrow." The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival.

"Bye Billy." And with that she leaned up for one last chaste kiss and turned towards the elevator. Will picked up her bags and put them inside. He backed out and smiled at her stupidly as the door closed.

"Holy shit." He exhaled as the elevator descended to the lobby of his building. He ran his hand through his hair in total exasperation. In 48 hours, a lot had changed.

Mac kept going between happiness and panic. She was so happy that Will and her had taken a step forward, and she thought he was probably right about taking things slower. Easing back into this relationship would be better for both of them, especially since once they were official, it would most certainly be a tabloid news article. That was the bother of dating a celebrity – though it wasn't entirely his fault. If she hadn't sent that cursed email it wouldn't be nearly as big a deal.

She knew that publicly taking her back would probably be the most difficult thing in this for Will. He wouldn't want to be the guy who went back to the cheating woman. For this, she was 100% responsible, and she could only hope that he loved her enough to get over it.

…

Dr. Habib was not opposed to phone conversations with clients, but he never expected to receive one from Will McAvoy at 9pm on a Sunday night.

"Will, is everything okay?" He answered his phone warily.

"Hi. Thanks for answering. Yes. I'm okay." Will wasn't sure if calling his shrink was the best idea, but he didn't have a lot of options for people to talk to.

"If everything is okay, then why are you calling." The young doctor was definitely curious.

"Mackenzie and I spent the weekend together." He stated bluntly.

Dr. Habib was only caught off guard for a moment, "You did? How did that happen?"

"I invited her to stay with me because her apartment was in the evacuation zone. Yes I know it was an excuse." He added quickly.

"So, what happened?"

"We. Well. I think we are getting back together." He answered. His voice sounded more excited than anything else.

"Did you talk about it or are you just assuming?" He asked.

"We talked about it. A lot. She wants it."

"Did you tell her what the message said?" Dr. Habib was not ever sure what to do with this patient.

Will hadn't even thought about the message all weekend. "It didn't come up, but I told her everything that I said in the message, it just wasn't in the context of 'this is what the message said.'"

"That's good!" he exclaimed, "How does Mackenzie feel?"

"She told me that she loved me. God I fucking love her. She is so beautiful." He felt good about voicing this publicly.

Dr. Habib raised his eyebrows at the confession, "That's great Will. I'm glad that you have admitted this to yourself. Did you make love?"

"Yes, but I think it may have been premature." Will answered, honestly.

The doctor was surprised by this admission, "What makes you say that?"

"It was so amazing, first off. Jesus Christ it was good." He paused reminiscing, "but afterwards I felt like it was too much. I almost asked her to marry me."

"Its normal, that after such an intense outpouring of emotion that you may have taken things a bit far, but you didn't ask her to marry you, right?" He wondered.

"No. I knew it would be too much. I don't know what I'm going to do when I see her around other people. I'm scarred that it won't work out again and then what will I do? Its already hard enough to even think about people knowing that I've forgiven her, but…"

"I'm stopping you right there. One, you just said it. You have forgiven her. That's amazing progress, but if you can't admit it to others, then you are right, the relationship can't more forward." One step forward, he thought.

"So what should I do?" Will needed an answer.

"You just have to see what happens and how it makes you feel. Forgiveness is an admirable trait Will, not a negative one. If you want to be with Mackenzie, if you love her the way you say you love her, then you have to be okay with everyone knowing that you forgave her. I don't think you are being unwise be taking it slow though." He couldn't make Will feel too miserable, he had to let him know he was on the right track.

"It would be easier if I didn't have to worry about tabloids and having a security guard with me on any date we decide to go on." Will had been thinking this for a few weeks actually.

"Yes it would," Dr. Habib conceded, "but those are things you can't change right now."

"She's worth it." He said quietly.

"Will, I'm proud of you. Keep moving forward." He was legitimately impressed right now.

"Okay, I'll see you for my appointment this week then."

"Looking forward to it." He answered before disconnecting.

Will looked down at his phone to see that he had received an incoming text message. It was from Mac. "thanks again for the food and shelter. i miss you already." He smiled as he sent his response.

"don't lie. You couldn't wait to get away from the mancave."

"don't be sour just because I won trivial pursuit."

"technically, we didn't finish the game."

"billy, this game will never be finished."

He smiled as he put his phone down. She was right, and that was the best part.


	7. Chapter 7

a/n this is some much needed fluffy fluff fluff. enjoy!

Chapter 7

Maggie was mildly disappointed when Mac came in Monday alone, but then, whatever was going on between Will and Mac, she realized they probably wouldn't want anyone to know about it. It was really too bad about the email Mac sent, and the TMI articles. That had to suck, she thought.

Nothing exciting happened until Will came in carrying two coffee cups instead of the usual one. She noticed his expression was generally more relaxed, but there were no other indicators of a weekend tryst, and he brought Mac coffee every so often, so that was nothing new.

"Happy Monday," Will said as he walked in Mac's office and sat the cup on her desk.

Mac smiled back at him, "Hi," she said giving him her sweetest smile, the one she saved just for him. She took a sip of the drink and her eyes went wide. "What's this? Its delicious."

"It's a little special drink that was created while you were embedded in Pakistan. It's the pumpkin spice latte. The season is changing, It means it's fall."

"Damn I missed a lot while I was over there." They both smiled at each other as they sipped their coffees.

Mac got up from behind her desk, coffee in hand and walked towards the door. "Time for the morning meeting." She stopped in front of Will who was blocking her way out of the office, "You coming?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Of course." He said.

"Then why aren't you moving?" she asked playfully.

"Because I want to look at you a bit longer." He replied in earnest, "I have to get it out of my system so I can act normal the rest of the day."

This made Mackenzie smile again. She reached up with her non-latte bearing hand and cupped his cheek. Standing on her toes she was able to give him a tender kiss, which he returned with equal pressure. She stepped back and looked up at him. "Okay, let's go. If we're in here too long and they don't hear screaming, they'll know something is up."

They both laughed as they stepped out of the room and went on to the rest of the day.

Maggie was the only person who noticed the grins on Will and Mac's faces as they walked through the newsroom.

...

"are you asleep?"

"will, you know I don't go to bed until 2, it's not even midnight!"

"I didn't want to assume..."

"okay, what's up?"

"I just wanted to talk, can I call?"

"well I shouldn't entertain late night calls from men who won't ask me out on a proper date, but I suppose I'll make an exception."

they talked until three.

...

Charlie had been largely absent throughout the week, but he asked Will to meet him upstairs for lunch on Wednesday. He was already having a drink when Will arrived and ordered his usual soda.

"Sorry I haven't made it downstairs for a visit, but it's been busy up here, explained, "I've been dying to know how your weekend with Mackenzie was."

Will was totally caught off guard. He looked around the room to make sure they weren't within earshot of anyone he didn't want knowing his personal business before he replied in a hushed tone, "How did you know about that?" The paranoid part of him couldn't help but wonder if their phones were still being hacked.

Charlie casually took a sip of his bourbon and smiled. "I didn't. You just told me."

Will started to answer , but then he stopped himself and laughed. If there was anyone he didn't mind knowing, it was Charlie. "It was...It was, wonderful."

"Why are you acting so weird about it, you should be shouting it from the mountaintops!" the older man replied.

"It's not that," he took a sip of his soda, suddenly wishing it had something stronger in it. Charlie saw his hesitation and poured a generous helping of his own drink into Will's.

"Now you can booze before the show and no one has to know about it," he winked, "then whats the problem?"

"We are going to start again. We are trying to take things slow though, and we'd prefer being able to date for a while before its an article in People." Will explained, but then his serious look turned to one of giddiness, "she still loves me."

"I knew that already, but I'm glad you two have figured it out. So what are you going to do? Woo her? Bring her flowers and jewels?" he motioned to the server who came over and took their lunch order.

"I want to just take her out on a damn date, but I keep getting death threats through our website, so anywhere we'd go we have to take Lonny with us." He complained, "I know a lot of restaurants where it wouldn't be a problem, but that's kind of lame."

Charlie considered his words, "How about a baseball game? ACN has a box at Citi Field. It's enclosed, and not too many people are allowed in."

Will's eyes brightened. "Mac loves baseball, let me run it by Lonny. Good thinking Charlie."

"Anytime." He raised his glass in a toast.

...

By Thursday Will had cleared the baseball game for Saturday with Lonny. He had actually seemed excited about the prospect of doing something other than escorting Will to and from work. He knew Mac was slightly miffed that he hadn't asked her out yet, which was becoming increasingly comical for him. They were so busy most of the time at work that he didn't have a moment alone with her, and he didn't want to ask her on the phone or via late night text.

The rundown for Friday's show was pretty intense, and he was glad to hear her calming voice in his ear throughout it. She challenged him at his job, but it was bringing out the best in him in a way he needed. After the show he was thinking he'd corner her and ask her about Saturday.

It made it easy when she popped into his office while he was changing after the show. She blushed a little when she saw him, which only served to turn him on.

"Sorry, I should have knocked. We're all going for drinks at the bar," she looked at him pleadingly, "Can you come?"

Will didn't really feel like going out with the crew. If it had just been Mackenzie that would be an entirely different thing. "Mac, I'm pretty tired, and you know I can't go anywhere without Lonny. Especially after work, could we..."

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you Monday."

Then she was gone. She hadn't even given him the opportunity to ask! Women were so strange.

...

Mac tried not to look disappointed when everyone showed up for drinks other than Will. As per usual her and Sloan were commiserating over very large martinis at the bar.

"So what are you doing this weekend." Sloan asked.

"Nothing, apparently." Mac answered.

"What the hell is going on with you this week? You've been acting weird."

"Sloan, let's go do something together, like friends do." Mac changed the subject.

"We're doing something right now." Sloan replied.

"No, this weekend. Do you have plans?" Mac asked. She needed more friends.

Sloan seemed to consider the options and a light bulb went off. "Do you want to go outlet shopping?!"

Mac hadn't been shopping in forever, and shopping was the ultimate female bonding activity. "Sure!" She answered, "When and where?"

"Let's do Sunday, it won't be as busy, and there is an awesome outlet mall upstate. I'll get us a car!" Sloan was pretty pumped about this. "We will be far enough away from work that you can actually tell me what the hell is going on with you and we can also buy shoes."

Mac couldn't argue with the logic. "Sounds good." She raised her glass and clanked with it Sloan's. Just then she felt a warm hand on the small of her back and the smell of Will invaded her senses.

"Bartender," he said, "another round for the ladies and a bourbon on the rocks please."

Sloan looked up at Will quizzically, and Mac looked thrilled.

"Hi Sloan, good segment tonight. Hey Mac," he said as he planted a kiss on her cheek." Other than Sloan, no one saw it. The gang was too wrapped up in their conversation to notice that Will had arrived.

"Thanks." Sloan answered.

"Mac, what are you doing this weekend?" Will tried to act casual.

"Well," Mac replied, "Sloan and I are going to go outlet shopping this Sunday as a matter of fact." She was happy to say she had something to do.

"Oh yeah?" he answered as the bartender delivered their fresh cocktails. "Cheers," he said and they all raised their glasses.

"Yes, we need shoes." Mac answered.

Sloan got off of her bar stool. "I'm going to run to the ladies room."

"Well, I was hoping that maybe you would like to attend a Mets game with me tomorrow night." He stated.

Mac tried to act sly. "Oh really," she said, "I think I could possibly make that work."

"That would be very exciting." He hand was still on her back and his thumb was now gently moving back and forth.

"Will aren't you worried someone will see us?" she asked.

"What here? or at the game?" he answered her question with a question.

"Both." She took a large gulp of her drink. "I know you don't want people to think you're 'that guy'" She said meekly.

Now he realized what her hesitance earlier was all about. She thought he hadn't asked her out because he didn't want to be seen with her. All of their moments so far had been in private.

"Mac, I wasn't delaying asking you because I didn't want to. It's because of Lonny and the security stuff. I had to make arrangements." He answered, "I don't care what people think if they see us together in public. I mean I'd prefer to be discreet just because I don't want people in our business, but it's not because of you. I love you."

It had been a full five days since she'd heard him say that and she had begun to wonder if she'd made it up in her head. She smiled broadly at him, "Well in that case, yes, I'd love to go with you."

"Great. I'll pick you up at six. I better get going, Lonny is in the car." He pulled a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and sat gave it to the bartender.

"See you tomorrow." He grinned at her and left.

Mac was still in a daze when Sloan returned from the bathroom. "So I got us a sweet zip car for Sunday...Mac? Hello?"

"Oh yes, Sunday, great. What's a zip car?" Mac finally responded.

"It's like a one day rental thing, what was that about with Will?"

"Umm. He just wanted to ask me something." Mac wasn't sure if she was ready to tell anyone about her and Will. It was kind of weird to describe in words what was happening between them.

"Mac. Do I look stupid? What's the deal? I thought we were supposed to be sort of, friends?" She colored a little at the comment.

Mac was genuinely touched. She honestly had so few female friends that she could count them on one hand. "I'm sorry. Yes, we are friends, but I am not good at the whole friend thing. I'm working on it. Look I'd feel better talking on Sunday when we aren't five feet from everyone at the office."

Tess had come to the bar and ordered a drink just as she started her speech. "Hey guys! You should come over and join us!" She grabbed her beer and left a tip for the bartender.

"I was just getting ready to head out, but I'll see you Monday!" Mac replied.

Sloan remained silent throughout the transaction and when she thought the coast was clear she leaned in and whispered, "Are you and Will getting back together?"

Mac didn't respond to her question, but her smile said it all. "What time on Sunday?"

"I'll pick you up at ten"

"Looking forward to it, really Sloan." She left the bar in a slightly tipsy daze. She needed to get home and start to organize her outfit options for tomorrow.

Tomorrow she had a date with Will.

...

Much to Lonny's dismay, Will insisted on going up to Mackenzie's apartment to get her.

"If I'm not back in ten minutes send in the SWAT team." Will jested sarcastically as he jumped out of the car and headed into Mackenzie's building.

Her doorman buzzed him up and in a few minutes he was knocking on Mac's door.

She opened the door wearing jeans and a fitted t-shirt, already sporting her Mets cap. "Hey," she said smiling broadly at him, "you didn't have to come up."

"I know, but I wanted to." He smiled back and reached in for a chaste kiss on the lips. "Ready to go?"

"Yep! Let me just grab my bag." He waited by the door while she grabbed her purse. "I'd invite you in but we need to get going don't we?"

"Yeah, traffic looked kind of dicey. I'll check out your place later." He said as she locked the door behind them.

"I forgot you hadn't been there before." The elevator had arrived and they stepped in.

"Next time," he replied. "You look pretty."

"Thanks." She didn't know how it was possible for her to still feel flushed when he looked at her, but it was getting worse each day.

They both put their sunglasses on as they headed out of the building.

...

The ACN box was located in a pretty chic part of Citi Field. There weren't many people there and they had an outstanding view of the field. They also had a waiter to bring them beer and hotdogs, which was an added bonus.

Will recognized a few of the other people at the game, and they politely said hello before taking their seats. Lonny was trying to be as inconspicuous as he could be hanging out towards the rear of the box.

"Sometimes I forget how much I love baseball." Mac commented.

"When was the last time you went to a game?" He asked between sips of his beer.

Mac didn't say anything for a minute. "When we went to that game in Boston," she commented rather quietly.

"I totally forgot about that. That was a fun weekend." He knew she was hesitant to bring up things they had done in the past, but it was inevitable, and. he found that it bothered him less than he expected.

"It was. I'll never forget those lobsters we ate!" She said, happy that he hadn't darkened at the thought of their past.

Will laughed, "We should go up to New England again. I could do with a five pound lobster meal."

"Totally." Mac replied.

They spent most of the game laughing and enjoying watching the Mets actually win. Mac was actually sad when it was over.

...

"I'm going to walk Mac up, it will just be a few minutes." Will said as they pulled in front of Mac's apartment.

"No problem. See you soon, Ms. McHale." Lonny replied. He had seemed to enjoy himself at the game, which made Will feel better about making m work on a Saturday night.

"Bye Lonny, thank you." Mac said as Will helped her out of the car. They held hands as they walked through her building, past Benny the doorman, and to the elevator bay.

"I had a really good time tonight." Mac said once the elevator doors had closed.

Will squeezed her hand before he replied. "Me too. Do you think there will be a second date?"

"Maybe.." she replied coyly.

Their hands separated only as Mac riffled through her purse for her keys and let them in her apartment. "Come in, I'll give you the tour."

"Okay," he followed her in. She turned on the lights to reveal a decent sized one bedroom apartment. The kitchen looked brand new and very unused, but her living room, in classic Mac style contained shelves and shelves of books.

"So this is the living room slash dining area..." she motioned around the room and he followed her down a short hall, "and this is the bedroom..." Her bedroom was a mess, which didn't surprise him at all. "and that's it."

"You could afford a bigger place Mac." he commented.

"I know, but what's the purpose? I'd rather save the money and buy shoes with it. Your the first person I've even had in here!"

"I love it. It's very you." He said. "Tonight was great."

"Agreed. Thank you for asking." She realized they were still standing in her bedroom, "you'd better not keep Lonny waiting too long..."

"He's on overtime he can wait," he said as he took a step forward. He closed the space between them quickly and suddenly their mouths were passionately entwined. It had been a week since they made love and they had had very little physical contact since then.

Their tongues were busy exploring one another's mouths when Mac pulled back and looked at him intently. "I told you I wasn't sleeping with you on our first date...this time."

He kissed her again, which only caused the butterflies in her stomach to erupt even more passionately. His hands were exploring her backside and hers were wrapped around his neck. Suddenly, he pulled back. "Okay." He said and he quickly turned and headed for the door. Mac followed after him.

"Will!" she shouted as he reached the door. He turned back to look at her and she saw the look on his face was one of amusement, not anger. She was relieved, but even more turned on as a response.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Yes. Yes I will go out with you again." She smiled at him.

He grinned back and headed out the door. "Goodnight Mackenzie."

"Bye Billy." She said from the door fame as she watched him walk down her hallway and turn towards the elevators.

Every moment with him was a new exhilaration. She hoped the feeling never changed.


	8. Chapter 8

a/n: this had to be typed on my iPad because I am traveling so please please forgive the errors. I also wanted you all to know that I now have a real ideethos I am going to end the story and I can tell you to expect maybe two more chapters in the next week or so. After that I may right some one-shots, but I need to get back to the writing of my own characters instead of playing with these delicious ones!

Chapter 8

The next morning Sloan picked Mac up in a convertible mini cooper. Mac had never seen her look so excited when she wasn't talking about the economy.

"Cute car!" Mac said as she got in.

"I know! Damnit I miss having a car! It's the worst thing about living in Manhattan!" She said as they headed towards the highway.

"Or the best thing," she commented, "I hate driving."

"You would." Sloan laughed as they headed out of the city.

...

They made good time getting to the outlet mall. Sloan didn't want to push the topic of Mac and Will, but she was dying to know what was up. The opportunity finally presented itself when she was holding Mac's bag so that she could try on some jackets. Her blackberry started buzzing.

"Hey I think you have a text." She said as she grabbed the phone out of the front pocket.

"Who's it from?" Mac said distractedly as she looked at herself in the mirror.

Sloan looked at the phone and saw the name that did not surprise her. "It appears to be from your gentleman caller."

Mac got the joke and reached out for the phone. She looked at the phone and smiled when she read the message.

"What does he want?" Sloan asked.

Mac looked at her and made a conscious decision that Sloan deserved to know inside information on this situation. They were, after all, friends. "He wants to know if I'm buying some sexy lingerie or if I'm just buying crap to wear to work."

Sloan's eyes rows shot up in surprise but she smiled. "So it's official?"

"We spent last weekend together." Mac admitted.

"Really? I wondered where you went. So?"

"So we decided it was time to give it another go. I'm not into this jacket, let's go to Prada." Mac decided as they walked out of the store.

"You don't have to ask me twice." Sloan replied as they headed outside, " So what happened? Come on I haven't dated anyone in forever, give me details."

In spite of herself Mac felt excited to talk about her and Will. She'd been keeping it inside for so long. "Well. We just...he told me that he still loves me, and that he wants this to work, so we're going to try to like 'date' again. Yesterday we went to a baseball game...it was so nice."

"Uhuh, back to last weekend. Did you guys do it?" Sloan asked.

Mac was only slightly shocked at Sloan's question. She as liking her more and more by the minutes. "Yes."

"and?"

"It was the best ever. I mean ever." Mac finished as they walked in the next shop, "Actually, lengerie isn't a bad idea..."

"Prada first, then we'll get you some kinky underwear," she headed straight for the shoe section with relish like Mac had never seen, "Mac that's awesome. I mean seriously. I am so happy that this is happening for you guys. you're clearly made for each other."

"You think so?" Mac questioned as she looked at some boots, "Would these look good on me?"

"Yes, and yes, but you should get the brown ones. And yes. You guys are like the only two people I can honestly say are made for each other. I don't understand how you have not jumped each other before now honestly."

Mac laughed. "It has been a difficult 18 months, but things are looking up."

...

Mac finally got a chance to respond to Will while Sloan was trying on jeans.

"cheeky boy."

"you didn't answer my question."

"I've bought several things I think you'll be interested in seeing."

"you have more than a few things I'm interested in seeing. trust me."

"so when is our second date?"

"tomorrow."

"oh is it now?"

"dinner at amarone."

"yummy."

...

On the way home from a generally wonderful day Mac told Sloan more details of the things that had been going on between her and Will.

"Do you think you can know all this stuff and still act normal around him?" Mac questioned.

"Oh please Mac. That's like female bonding rule number one. We have to act totally normal around our friends boyfriends despite knowing the intimate details that they would be furious with us sharing. It's kind of hilarious when you think about it."

Mac laughed. It was true. "I wish you had a boyfriend. Then we could double date!"

"Ha. ha. Will wouldn't be into that anyway." She responded as she turned on the exit for downtown.

"He would after a while. Right now it's just very fresh between us so we're kind of obsessed with each other. I can't believe that Maggie actually moved in with Don." She had wanted to bring this up for a while.

Sloan seemed to think for a minute. "Yeah well, she's not as smart as we all thought."

Mac sighed. "What I don't understand is how the fuck she's not with Jim. I mean, why is she bothering with Don. Jim is so damn perfect for her. Don is too old and too hard...not that he's not a catch."

"No you're right, but people do stupid fucking things Mac." She pulled up In front of Mac's building.

"Yes, trust me I know they do. Thank you so much for today, it was great." Mac said as she reached in the back for her numerous shopping bags.

"Seriously. I had a good time too." Sloan said, "We should hang more often, you know cause that's what girls do and stuff."

"Good night Sloan, see you tomorrow."

...

"are you home yet?"

"jeez billy give me a break, I just took my shoes off!"

"call me when you're settled in."

"I wish you were just here so I didn't have to call."

"okay."

...

fifteen minutes later Mac heard her buzzer ring. Benny announced that he had a 'Billy' downstairs for her. She happily buzzed him up.

She had only had time for a quick shower and she greeted him at the door in her pajamas with damp hair. "So what did you want to talk about?" She asked as he walked in.

He shrugged and headed straight for her bedroom. She noticed he was carrying a small gym bag. He pulled a pair of pants out of it and hung it in the closet.

"So I take it your sleeping over?" she asked.

"If that's okay with you. I noticed I slept better last weekend." He said as he took his shoes and watch off. Mac couldn't believe how 'at home'he was acting. she loved it.

"Me too, and it's definitely alright with me." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He hugged her back and breathed in the smell of her damp hair.

"Are you ready for bed?" he asked.

"I'm exhausted. Shopping is rough." She pulled back and looked at him.

He chuckled as he let go of her and went to his bag. He pulled out a pair of pajamas and started to change into them. "I'm assuming Sloan is in the know now?"

Mac thought it was weird that he hadn't tried to make a move on her, but she figured it was part of his 'take is slow' agenda. "Yeah she is, but it wasn't like she had to do a lot of guess work after that stunt you pulled at the bar on Friday."

He turned to look at her. "I felt daring. Anyway, Charlie knows."

"Well of course he does." Mackenzie acknowledged.

"Anyone else?" he asked as he went to the bathroom with his toothbrush.

"Not that I'm aware of. Are we keeping this a secret?" she wondered aloud.

"No, but I don't think we should like make an announcement or anything. We'll just let people figure it out." She heard him turn the sink on and was momentarily distracted by the thought of how things at work would change if people knew they were a couple.

Will returned and got into bed next to her. "Is that okay? Or would you prefer to send out a mass email?"

She turned to him and playfully smacked his chest. "Ha. ha," she turned around and grabbed her blackberry, "what time do you want to get up?"

"I have an appointment with Dr. Habib at 10," he answered, "so 8:30?"

"He works on labor day?" she questioned.

Will shrugged, "Apparently."

"Do you need to go home in the morning?" she was frowning as she set the alarm time on her phone.

"I brought stuff."

Mac set her phone on the bedside table and turned off the lamp. She snuggled into bed and Will immediately spooned her. "Thanks for coming over."

"My pleasure. I missed you all day." He gently kissed her neck.

"It was only one day."

"Yeah but I am having a hard time with this whole taking it slow concept. That's why I'm seeing Dr. Habib tomorrow." His arm was wrapped around her and his fingers were running over her abdomen where he knew her scar to be.

"Me too. I feel like when I'm not with you it's like this hasn't really happened." she admitted.

It made Will immediately happy to know this. "That's exactly how I feel. Like if I don't have you in my arms then this isn't real."

Mac turned around so that she could see Will's face in the dim light coming in from the window. "This is real isn't it?"

"Yes," He said firmly.

"Then we better both work on getting a grip on reality." She said before she kissed him.

He kissed her back with unbridled passion. In a few moments they were grinding into each other so tightly that aside from their pajamas there was no space between them. Will lifted Mac's top off of her and began his much anticipated exploration of her breasts. He'd missed them so much, he wanted to take his time reacquainting himself. Mac sighed in pleasure as he took each nipple in his mouth and playing with them until they were hard rosy peaks. He worked his way down her belly until he found his path obstructed by her pajama bottoms. He pulled the band down gently and was very much relieved to find that there were no panties underneath them.

Waking up with Mackenzie snoozing in his arms made Will smile. He was laying on his back and she was laying with her arm draped across his chest and her leg in between his. He could feel her bare breasts on his skin which made the memories from the night before come up in his mind.

The first time they had made love it had been full of powerful tension and immediate need. Last night had been much more exploratory. Savory, really, he thought. It was only the tip of the iceberg though, he knew he would need many many more hours to reaquaint himself with Mac's body.

He felt her stir and became only slightly self conscious about the hard-on that he had worked up reminiscing about last night.

"Mmmm," Mac said as she ran her hand down his chest and wrapped her fingers around his still growing erection. "Maybe I can help you out with this."

He saw he head duck under the covers and then he saw stars.

...

In the afterglow of their lovemaking they were startled to hear Mac's blackberry alarm go off. "I guess it's time to get out of bed," she said as he reached over and turned it off.

"We should probably clean up," Will said as he kissed a line across her shoulders, "Shower?"

"Sounds Devine, but let me turn the coffee on first," she said as she stood up and walked out of the room completely naked.

"Genius." WIll said as he got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to turn the shower on.

...

After their shower Will and Mac drank coffee and turned on NPR to see what was being reported in the daily news. She ate a yogurt and he fried a few eggs for himself.

"Lonny won't be here for a few minutes," he said as Mac was grabbing her purse and jacket to head out to work, "I could wait downstairs..."

Mac had almost forgotten about his appointment. She also briefly thought that them showing up to the ACN building together would probably be a fail.

"Don't be silly," she said as she opened a drawer in her kitchen, "Here is the spare set of keys. Keep them."

He looked up at her and smiled. "Sounds good," he said as he stood up and kissed her goodbye.

"I'll see you in a little bit." She kissed him one last time and went for the door, "Bye Billy."

"Bye." He couldn't believe she gave him the spare keys. He felt like doing a fist pump, but he waited until she left the room.

...

"How are you feeling today, Will?" asked Dr. Habib.

"Amazing." He answered quickly.

The young doctor's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Well that's a first. Tell me what's going on?"

"Mackenzie."

"Okay with the one word answers. Elaborate please?" He tapped his pen on his pad as if he were willing something interesting to put down on it.

"I don't know how to explain it, but I feel, happy? Satisfied? Its like this. Since she has come back I've started to be a person again. I love my job, my life may be complicated but I like the direction its going in a lot more than I did before."

"I think you can attribute that to a number of things, but I definitely admit, Mackenzie coming back into your life, even before it became romantic, seemed to be helping you. Did you spend time together this week?" he asked.

"We went to the Mets game, and then I spent the night at her place last night. We just needed to be with each other. Is that bad?" He knew that Dr. Habib had advised him to take things slow.

"No, I think it's good. When I said take it slow last week I didn't mean not to spend time together. I meant not to commit to things like marriage or moving in together before you were ready. I think that when you want to see each other you should see each other."

Will smiled and shook his head. "I like myself when I'm with her. She brings the best out in me. I was such an ass when she was gone."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. You were severely depressed and you refused to seek help. You came to see me when you realized you wanted to get better. That's admirable."

"I don't think I need my meds anymore." Will commented.

Dr. Habib let a moment go by before he spoke. "Will, I don't disagree with you, but I want you do stay on them for at least another two months and then we can talk about weening you off of them. You are making progress and showing me a lot of good behavior, but I think taking you off your meds right now would be too soon. Three weeks ago you were in the hospital because you took too many."

Will listened intently. "Okay."

"okay?"

"Look it takes a lot for me to take advice from someone young enough to be my son..."

Dr. Habib interrupted. "I'm not that young."

"But, whether I like it or not, you have helped me this year, so I'll go with your advice." Will stood up and looked at his watch, "I've gotta get to work before Mac decides on the rundown. I hate missing it."

Dr. Habib stood up and shook Will's hand." I'll see you next week."

"It's a date."


	9. Chapter 9

a/n sorry for the delay in posting. its winding down to a close here and i want to make sure that i cross all the proverbial t's and such. anywho, thank you for your kind reviews and words of encouragement! i expect one more chapter and potentially an epilogue after this.

Chapter 9

"I wish you'd come home with me," Will whispered into Mac's ear as he walked he out of the restaurant and into the street to hail her a cab. Lonny followed behind.

"I want to, but I don't have any clothes..." Mac replied regretfully.

"We'll plan better tomorrow." Despite being early September the air was cool and Will pulled Mac's jacket around her more closely so that she wouldn't be chilly. He was also buying time.

"I'll bring clothes for tomorrow and I'll leave a few things at your place." Mac smiled confidently as she spoke to him.

"That would be great." He took one of her hands and kissed the back of it. "Let's get you a car." He stepped into the street to hail her a taxi, which happened quickly. He opened the door for Mac to get in.

"Thanks for dinner," she said as she stepped towards the cab. "It was delicious." She reached up and pecked him quickly on the lips before getting in the car.

"You're delicious." Will muttered as the taxi pulled away and he headed towards his security guard.

"Don't worry," Lonny commented, "She's into you."

Will looked up and it occurred to him for a moment that Lonny was unaware that he and Mac were together, but then he saw the look on his face and realized he was joking.

Will laughed as they walked to the car.

...

Tuesday Mac remembered to bring a small bag of toiletries and a change of clothes. The problem was that she didn't want to bring it in anything large enough for people to mention it at work. She was pretty much limited to what fit in her Louis Vuitton tote.

That night they actually both joined the team at the bar.

"O.M.G." Tess said as she saw them walk in the door together, "Will is here? and Mac? Together?"

"No way, not like 'together' together. They're friends." Neil chimed in.

"Friends with more unresolved sexual tension than a forty year old virgin." Kendra said as she finished her drink.

Everyone laughed at this. Maggie squirmed with the effort it took to hold her Mac/Will Hurricane Irene Theory inside.

"What's so funny with you lot?" Mac said as she and Will reached the corner table that their staff generally occupied.

"We didn't think Will was allowed to go out without his bodyguard." Gary covered, "Is it you tonight?"

Everyone giggled including Will and Mac. "No, Lonny's outside, he figured I'd be alright in here with you guys for a bit. Let me buy you all a drink."

Everyone excitedly murmured his or her thanks as Will went to the bar. Mac sat down next to Jim, leaving the chair next to her open for Will.

Will returned from the bar a few minutes later carrying a bourbon and a Cosmo. "She's bringing everyone a fresh one in a minute." he said as he handed Mac her drink and set down next to her.

Will and Mac only stayed for one drink, but they quite enjoyed themselves. The team really was spectacular and Will felt like he was just getting to know them.

They made no particular effort to hide their affection for one another, but they didn't do anything particularly strange for them either. To the news team it was perfectly normal to see their two bosses together, though it was a bit unique that they came and left with one another.

...

"Jim's cool." Will said as they rode home in the back of Lonny's escalade.

"You just like him because he jammed on guitar with you." Mac replied.

"Well that does make him way cooler, but I was thinking more like when he got you to a hospital in Islamabad before you bled to death." Will reached over and took her hand.

"Yeah that was pretty cool of him." Mac said trying to focus on the moment, not what happened in Islamabad.

Will turned to her and looked at her seriously, "If you had died, I would have killed myself."

Mac didn't know what to say. She was shocked that he would say something like this to her, especially with another person in earshot. "I didn't." Was all she could say without choking up.

He squeezed her hand and looked ahead realizing they were almost at his apartment.

...

Back at the bar the conversation returned to Will and Mac.

"Totally doing it." Tess said, "I'd bet my life on it."

"Well if they are I hope it makes them happy. They deserve to be happy." Was all Neil could muster. He hadn't thought too much of it, but Will and Mac had been standing excruciatingly close when he and Lonny had interrupted them after the American Taliban broadcast. He hadn't wondered what that was about till now.

"I hope they don't break up and make all of our jobs miserable." Tess replied wistfully.

"They aren't going to break up." Maggie couldn't hold it in any more, "They are like meant for each other, seriously, it's ridiculous and I've thought they were back together since after he was sick."

"Jim what do you think? You're close with Mac." Tess asked.

"She hasn't said anything to me," they were all waiting to hear his opinion, "I don't have inside info, but I hope it works out between them. They seem like the real deal." Jim didn't want to mention how he knew Mac never left Will's bedside when he was sick, how she'd called his name out when she was losing blood from that wound in her stomach, or how she had sent him dozens of emails from Islamabad. War stories were not shared.

"Sloan." Kendra said, "Sloan would know."

"Where is she?" Maggie asked.

"She's doing a slot for ten o'clock tonight, they should all be down in a bit." Jim answered.

"Sloan's a lockbox. She won't tell us anything." Gary said.

"Should we start a betting pool?" Kendra asked.

"For what?" Neil replied signaling the bartender for another round, "I think the general consensus is that they are together."

"They haven't gone to HR." Maggie said.

This inspired several "hmmms" and "oooohs" from everyone.

"Do they have to do that?" Jim said with interest.

"Yeah," Maggie said, "Don and I had to."

"So they are dating they just aren't like official?" Tess wondered allowed.

"So whatever is going on we shouldn't talk about it until they tell us something." Jim took on a very official sounding voice, "Seriously, we wouldn't want to be the reason they got in trouble with ACN."

"Good call. No betting pool," Neil said, "Sorry Kendra."

"Y'all are lame. Let's do more shots."

...

They spent Wednesday night at Mac's apartment eating Indian takeout.

"Are you sure that your stomach lining can handle this old man?" Mac asked as she handed Will a plate filled with lamb vindaloo and chana masala.

"It's been over a month. I'm cleared for spices." He smiled and took the plate from her and set it down on the coffee table, which was Mac's only surface to eat off of unless they sat at the kitchenette. He supposed eating Indian food while sitting on the floor seemed mildly appropriate anyway.

"Good, I don't want to put you back in the hospital." She placed their utensils on the table and handed will a fresh beer. "Cheers."

"Cheers Mac, and I'm sure if you put me in the hospital it won't be from eating spicy food." Will tasted his dish and nodded in approval. "Oh yeah, and don't call me old."

"Sorry it's just nice to know that you'll always be ten years older than I am. It makes me feel better about being old as fuck." Mac reached broke off a piece of naan and expertly used it to pick up her food.

"Oh yeah, you know you're going to be forty soon."

Mac almost choked, "Two more years! I'm only thirty eight!"

Will couldn't help but laugh at her. "So you'll be turning forty and I'll be fifty in the same year."

"Looks that way." Mac said.

"We'll have to have a big party." Will was trying the samosas now. "Damn these are great."

"Or we could go on a trip somewhere and tell all our friends to bugger off." Mac replied.

Will looked at her and realized something. "Mac?"

She looked up at him, "Well we don't have to take a trip, a party would be fine..."

"It's not that," He took a swig of beer, "We're going to be together in two years." It wasn't a question.

Mac realized it too. They had just made imaginary future plans as if there were no reason why they wouldn't come to fruition. That was definitely a first for them. "We are, unless you get sick of me."

Will nodded 'no.' "You worry that this is too good to be true?"

"Every time I wake up in bed with you I feel like its too good to be true, but there you are, and I just feel so...lucky." She blushed a little at this admission.

"I think I know why you slept with Brian."

Mac's mouth hung open but she could not utter a word.

"Before, I never appreciated the absolute wonder of how much I love you. I knew that I loved you, and I told you, but I never told you this: I'm the lucky one. You make me feel like I deserved to be happy. I honestly never thought I could be before I met you. My mistake was assuming that you felt the same way. I didn't even consider that you were struggling. Going forward, I never want you to feel like the bottom is going to fall out, because its not." His voice was tender with emotion.

She breathed deeply to steady herself as she spoke. "Remember how I couldn't tell you a good reason why I slept with Brian?" Will nodded at her, "The truth is, that you're right, I spent our whole relationship worrying about the day you'd get sick of me or decide I wasn't good enough. Even when I was blissfully happy, I was always scarred it would end, and then when it seemed the total opposite, I went out and did something to bring it all to a head. If I could have told you how I felt I would have, but it was too complicated to explain. I don't even think I understood what was going on anyway."

Will cupped her face with his hand and leaned in to kiss her forehead. It lingered for a moment. "Hindsight is everything baby, you didn't know then."

Mac pulled back so she could look into his eyes as she finished what she wanted to say. "I've hated myself for so long because as soon as I told you, the pain I saw on your face made me realize that what I had been afraid of for so long was exactly the opposite of what was happening between us. It was so stupid and so fucked up and I will never again take for granted what we have. I love you, and I'm so sorry for all the fucking shit that happened." A single tear escaped her watery eyes and Will was quick to wipe it away.

He looked down at her earnest expression and knew she had nothing to hide. If she did, she never would have come back to him. "I forgive you."

"You do?" She sniffed as she questioned his statement, hoping that she hadn't just dreamed hearing the words she had prayed for for so many long years.

Will smiled down at her and his heart felt warm and full. "I do."

Mac grabbed him and hugged him as hard as she possibly could. He held on tightly as a response. He knew he meant it sincerely. It no longer mattered to him what people thought or who knew their personal business. What mattered was that he had Mackenzie and he knew he would never lose her now.

"We better finish our food before it gets cold." He said into her neck.

Mac pulled back and looked at him, her hands were resting on his chest, which was making it hard for him to concentrate. "That's what the fucking microwave is for," she said before she grabbed him and kissed him deeply.

The Indian food tasted just as good later that night.

...

On Thursday Mac found herself wandering through the cosmetic section of Bloomingdales on her lunch break. She was planning on spending the night at Will's and it had occurred to her that her handbag would weigh significantly less if she didn't have to carry around her makeup and hair products.

She walked up to the counter where she generally bought her makeup and was greeted by the friendly salesperson, "Hi there, do you need some help?"

Mac smiled, "Yes actually, I need another of all of these things." She pulled out her toiletry bag, which was quite heavy and handed it to the girl.

"No prob, lets see what you've got here." She opened the bag and looked through everything to see what she needed to grab and then handed it back to Mac.

"You got it all that fast?" Mac questioned.

"It's sort of like working at Starbucks sometimes." She smiled back, "So let me go grab all of those things for you." She walked briskly about the counter grabbing things and placing them in front of Mac. Finally she returned with her shampoo and conditioner and set them down on the hefty pile. "Can I show you anything new today?"

"No that will be all, thank you..."

The girl made small talk with her as she rang up the sale, "Are you going on a trip or something?"

"No I actually just wanted to leave a set of everything at my boyfriend's place." The note of pride in her voice was inescapable.

"Good for you. Okay that will be $437.54"

"Jeez," Mac said as she handed the over her credit card.

"It always seems like a lot when you buy it all at once, but I threw in some freebies for you to ease the pain." She looked at the card to type in the security code. "You're that reporter aren't you?" She asked as she handed back the card.

"Umm I'm a producer now, but yes, I used to be a reporter for CNN." Mac wasn't used to being recognized in public for any reason other than standing next to Will.

"I thought you looked familiar. I was a big fan of your work in Islamabad. I'm sure you're glad to be out of there aren't you?" She was wrapping up the little black boxes in tissue and taping them securely.

Mac was a little taken back, "Thank you, and yes, it's nice to be home."

"Your doing News Night now, right?" The girl asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry if I'm acting weird, I just don't get recognized very often, unless its someone in the business." She took the bag that the girl handed her.

"Hey look, I know I work in a fancy pants department store, but I'm a news junkie. All my friends are too. Actually I want to give you a tip."

Mac smiled and looked at the girl. She couldn't imagine what kind of tip she could offer. "Well I'm just happy to know someone who isn't a senior citizen watches our show, what's the tip?"

"Some of my friends from college are organizing a massive sit-in that's supposed to start next week. It's going to be huge."

This definitely peaked Mac's interest. "Where?"

"Wall Street."

Mac eyed her appraisingly. "Thank you."

Another sales person had come over to use the register and the client seemed to be in a hurry to get out of there. "No, thank YOU Ms. McHale, and enjoy your new makeup!" The sales girl lifted her eyebrows as if to say 'it's my job.'

Mac turned and left Bloomingdales and wondered what was going to happen on Wall Street. She would put Maggie on it as soon as she got back to the office.

...

"Hey can I have a drawer in the bathroom?" Mac asked as she was dressing for work on Friday morning.

Will was just stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist. "You can have that whole sink. I'm pretty sure the drawers are empty."

Mac smiled as she went over to the unused side of his bathroom vanity and opened the drawers to find them completely empty. She was happy not to find any remnants of the women Will had slept with through the years as she put all of her new makeup in the drawer.

As she was putting on the last of her makeup Will came in to brush his teeth. "Jeez that's a lot of stuff," he commented on the open drawer.

"It's the price of beauty," Mac said sarcastically.

Will grinned at her as he continued his dental hygiene regimen. When he was done he wiped his mouth with a towel before speaking. " I called you a car."

"You didn't have to do that, I can just take a taxi." This had been their debate every morning. They didn't think they should arrive at the ACN building together so Will had been calling a car service for her.

"Yeah yeah," he said, " maybe after our break next week we could start coming in together?"

"You think?"

"We need to meet with our agents and decide what we should do, but I'm sick of pretending that we aren't together." He was standing behind her and gently massaging her shoulders.

" Me too, so whatever you think we need to do, let's do it." She turned around and pecked him on the mouth. Just then the buzzer rang. "Must be my ride. I'll see you in a little bit."

Will leaned in for one more kiss before Mac wiggled out of his arms and went to grab her handbag and the hat and sunglasses she had been wearing upon entering and exiting Will's apartment.


	10. Chapter 10

a/n: we have reached the end amigos, but i promise an epilogue. i also promise it won't be the last fic i write for this ship. please feel free to send me any prompts! i'm open!

Chapter 10

"Hey Mac." Jim shyly stuck his head into her office. It was still relatively early and most of the staff wasn't there.

Mac looked up at him from the pile of paperwork on her desk. "Good morning!" She was much more chipper than usual, but then again, she had plenty to be happy about. "Whats that behind your back?"

Jim hesitantly walked into the office and revealed that he was holding on to a copy of US Weekly. Mac laughed at him. "Look I wanted to show you this before you saw it somewhere else…"

Mac's face fell as he handed her the magazine. It wasn't the cover story, but it was on there. Right underneath Ryan Gosling's dashing smile: "Will McAvoy's New/Old Flame! Details on page 8."

"Oh shit." Mac looked at it like it might bite her. "How did you…?"

"Lisa. Lisa reads all of these magazines religiously. This came this morning."

Mac opened to page eight with trepidation. There were three pictures. The first was of Will and Mac at the baseball game. It wasn't too telling. They were just enjoying the game, you could even see Lonny a few yards behind them.

The second was of Will putting her in a taxi in front of Amarone the other night. They were kissing. "Ugh." Mac groaned as her hand went to her hair, restlessly tangling it.

The third was of her, wearing her sunglasses and hat, leaving Will's apartment building…holding hands with Will.

"Couple Alert! After months of scandal at New Night, Will McAvoy has started seeing…you guessed it! MacKenzie McHale! His Executive Producer and the ex girlfriend who famously cheated on him! Sources confirm that the couple has been seen in various locations throughout Manhattan, making no effort to hide their affections for each other. We were unable to get a statement from McAvoy's agent."

"What the fuck?! No one asked for a statement! And why the hell is it their business anyway?" Mac stood up and threw the magazine on her desk.

"It isn't their business, Mac. We all know that." Jim tried to speak in soothing tones.

She was pacing back and forth behind her desk. "I need to call Will, but he's at the doctor's…"

"Its going to be fine. Its not slanderous, its just annoying."

Mac looked up at him. She really loved Jim, and he was right. This was definitely not the worst thing that could happen. That already happened when she cheated on Will with Brian and then told everyone in the world about it by accident. "So, Will and I are back together." She stated flatly.

Jim smiled at her, which she couldn't help but returning. "Congratulations. Thanks for sharing."

Mackenzie sat back down behind her desk looking relatively deflated. "Sorry I didn't tell you, but it hasn't been going on very long, and well, we were trying to avoid…this."

"Its okay, I totally understand."

"What should I do?" She asked.

"You guys need to report your relationship to HR, hopefully before anyone at ACN gets wind of this, and then what you do is really between you and Will."

Several staff members were filing into the office now. "Its going to be insane today, we have to get the rundown for tonight and Sunday's 9/11 special."

"I'll do everything I can to try to make it easier, but you have got to get Will and get to HR."

Mac let out a sigh. "Thanks Jim."

"Anytime."

…

Unfortunately, the day did not go nearly as well as planned. Will had a ton of meetings and Mac literally never laid eyes on him until he walked by her in the newsroom while she was going through extremely important details with the staff. He went straight to his office.

Mac tried to speed up her pace in order to catch him while he was alone but within a few minutes, Reese Lansing hurriedly walked through the newsroom and straight for Will's office. That's when the yelling began.

…

Will was having a relatively decent morning. He'd had a follow up appointment with his doctor, and it seemed that he was completely recovered from his stay at the hospital. Then he'd gotten a text from Mac asking what they were going to do on hiatus week.

He hadn't even thought about it until then. After Sunday they were off for a glorious seven days. Thoughts of a Caribbean vacation and Mac in a bathing suit instantly filled his head.

He tried to shake off those thoughts though, they had a ton of work to do today both for tonight's show, and for the show on Sunday. Since it was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 he had decided to let the team have off for most of the day. If they could get everything they needed to finished, then they could all spend that day mostly how they wanted to and then come in around six to work on the show.

He rushed through the newsroom only sparing a glance over to Mackenzie and went straight to his office to get working on the rundown. He had only just turned on his computer when the miniscule form of Reese Lansing burst through his office door.

"Thanks for knocking."

"What the FUCK is this?" He was holding something in his hand.

"I don't know," Will said calmly, "What the fuck is it?" The mocking tone was unintentional, but it came through strong.

Reese threw the US Weekly down on Will's desk. "Page eight."

Will knew wherever this conversation was going it was going to be ugly. He and Reese had once been friends, but with everything that had happened over the past eighteen months, they were now scornful enemies. He wasn't sorry either; Reese was a tool.

He obligingly turned to page eight while Reese stood there with his arms crossed. He wasn't surprised by what he saw, and he was only irritated because of the trouble it would cause. This wasn't the worst thing that had been written about him in the past year – or the past month for that matter.

"Look, Reese…" He started, but he wasn't able to get a word out.

"Did it not even occur to you how fucking bad this would look?"

Will stood up. "No, shockingly, that was not something that I was thinking about." He wasn't going to stand for this little prick talking about his relationship.

"I mean, you have been all over the tabloids this year. Its only been like four weeks since your name was in a national publication. Was that just too much for you? Couldn't stand not being in the spotlight?"

"Reese this has nothing to do with anything. Stop being intentionally dense." Will walked around from behind his desk. He refused to be bullied.

"How long has this been going on? Are you even serious here? Or are you just fucking her?"

Will crossed his arms and tried not to get overly angry. "What we are doing is none of your business."

"Actually it IS my business Will! This is a legal issue and a conflict of interest for your show. You didn't even go to HR. Since you clearly aren't serious about it…"

"We'll go to HR." Will cut him off. "That's not a problem. We will do it right now if it will get you to shut up."

…

At first Mackenzie tried to keep the staff's attention, despite the very loud and obvious yelling coming from Will's office. Their faces were clearly distraught and everyone kept looking over at the door and looking back at her as if she were supposed to do something.

She had absolutely no idea what to do.

"Mackenzie?" She looked towards the elevator bay and saw Charlie's figure emerge.

"Hi Charlie. Meeting dismissed." She said, but most of the staff hung around, or went off to their stations quietly, still listening to the yelling coming from Will's office.

"What the hell is going on in there? I heard Reese was screaming at his secretary and then left his office to come down here."

Mac leaned against a workstation desk and crossed her arms. "It appears that they are fighting."

Charlie merely raised his eyebrows at her.

…

"Going to HR isn't going to fix this problem. This is a liability for the show!" Reese yelled at him.

"Its not a liability for anyone. We did this before and we'll do it now! Our relationship has nothing to do with the quality of our work and don't pretend like you don't already know that!" Will had his hands on his waist and was desperately trying to stop them from hitting Reese square across his smirking jaw.

"I knew this was going to happen. The second she came back and the show totally changed…"

"IT CHANGED FOR THE BETTER!" Will fiercely yelled back.

"That's what YOU say! You're fucking escapades cost this company hundred of thousands of dollars!"

Will took a breath. "This isn't about that Reese. Don't try to displace you anger about 'other' things onto Mac and myself. Whatever happens between us is none of your business and there's nothing you can do, because we are going to do the right thing and go report the relationship to HR right now. I'm sorry we've been to busy to follow through on your bureaucratic bullshit!" He walked by him and pushed the door open forcefully.

…

The staff of the News Night had never been so quiet and Mac knew everyone was doing exactly what she was doing; trying to listen to every word of what was happening in Will's office. Unfortunately much of it was garbled, but the yelling was unmistakable, as were the words "Mackenzie" "HR" and "Changed."

Charlie put his hand on her elbow. "I'm going to go in there and…" but before he could finish his sentence Will had burst out of his office.

"Mac!" He yelled as he took long strides towards her. She turned to look at his flushed face and saw Reese appear form behind the door.

Everyone's eyes were on Reese when he opened his mouth and said, "You can go do whatever you want, but you know that it doesn't matter. Its only a matter of time before your slutty girlfriend cheats on you again and this whole show is DONE."

Will turned around as quickly as he had been walking towards Mackenzie. "That's it you little twat!"

Reese launched himself at Will faster than anyone would have expected, but Will having more experience in a fist fight managed to duck the first throw and deliver a left hook right to Reese's face. It wasn't enough though and Reese had punched Will in the stomach before anyone could move.

"Stop them!" Mackenzie yelled. She was immobilized by both fear and Charlie's hand on her arm.

Will had Reese in a headlock by the time Jim and Gary pulled them off of each other.

"It doesn't fucking matter Will, you know I'm right!" Reese yelled through his bleeding lip. Gary gave him a hard squeeze to remind him that he was pretty much helpless if he tried to fight him.

Jim was pulling Will away, "You fuck yourself, Reese."

"Both of you! Shut the hell up!" Charlie finally intervened, "Reese get out of here. Just go crawl back to your office."

Reese was still struggling when Gary let him go and gave him a domineering look. He glared at all of them, but saved his last look for Mac as he walked to the stairwell.

The newsroom seemed to be in slow motion as they heard the door slam. Jim let go of Will, who walked directly across the room, and in front of everyone, cupped Mac's face and kissed her like there was no tomorrow.

Cheers and catcalls erupted from almost everyone watching, which only made them break apart to look at each other and laugh.

Will couldn't wipe the smile off of his face as he looked back at this group of people who he cared deeply about and was glad not to have to hide his affection for the one woman he had ever loved from them any longer.

"Guys, Mac and I have to go up to Human Resources. We'll be back in a bit."

With that he grabbed Mac's hand and led her towards the elevator bay. She willingly followed and couldn't help but glance back towards the staff and smiling broadly at them before they were out of sight.

Once the elevator arrives, mercifully empty, Will pressed her up against the wall and kissed her again. When they broke apart it was Mac that spoke, "You just hit Reese Lansing." She said with her arms wrapped tightly around Will's neck.

"Hey! He hit back." Was all he said before he kissed her again.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Never better," he smiled at her, "he's not going to do anything, there were 30 witnesses there who saw him throw the first punch."

"It was pretty hot the way you ducked it." She kissed him again.

"You liked that?" He said.

"Loved it, but don't make a habit out of defending my honor please."

Will looked at her seriously, "No one talks about my girlfriend that way."

She smiled and leaned in for one more kiss before the bell informed them that they had arrived at their designated floor.

Whatever was going to happen now, they couldn't control, but they knew one thing: they'd be facing it together.


	11. Chapter 11

so I had written another epilogue that never felt right, but then nature supplied me with the perfect ending.

...

**October 29th 2012**

The staff had been told to come to work prepared to stay overnight, possibly for a few days. Private cars had been sent to pick them up at their apartments since the MTA had shut down the night before.

"Are you sure we can't just let them go home?" Will asked.

Charlie took a sip of his bourbon, "We lucked out with Irene, Will, this storm is going to bitchslap the city. We can't afford not to cover it, and we need to do better than correspondents. Especially this close to the election."

Will knew he was right and he was not looking forward to the next few days. "If we lose power?"

"Then you can leave." Charlie smiled as he answered. "Hey, as I remember it, the last hurricane treated you pretty well. Maybe you'll be lucky again." He winked at Will as he turned to leave his office.

...

After hours of reporting on the storm's progress, Will finally relinquished his post to Elliott so he could attempt to get a few hours sleep. Mac was actually wearing sneakers by the time they headed to his office.

Various staff members were strewn about the place, sleeping wherever they could or eating cold pizza. "Are you hungry?" Mac asked as he opened the door for her.

The sight that greeted her in Will's office was one for sore eyes. A queen sized air mattress had been inflated and made up to look quite comfortable. Mac immediately kicked her shoes off and laid down. "Have I mentioned that I love you?" She smiled back up at Will.

"Don't go to sleep too fast, I've got a surprise for you." He went around to his desk and retrieved a chilled bottle of champagne from the fridge. Mac sat up and watched curiously as he opened it and poured them both glasses.

"What are we toasting to?" She asked.

"Hurricanes." He smiled as he said it.

"Well I can see why you would want to toast Irene, but I'm not sure what's so special about Sandy, accept that we're stuck here instead of in your apartment this time." She giggled as Will tried to sit down on the bed without spilling his drink.

"This year has been amazing." He said as he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"I know." She replied without hesitation.

"The best ever, for us." Mac looked at him and waited for him to continue. "Every day I wake up and I feel younger and happier, which I know sounds ridiculous, but it's true. You didn't just bring me back to life, you made me realize that there's still something left to live for. I mean we're trapped here with a bunch of 25 year olds so that we can make sure the news goes on no matter what Hurricane Sandy does to the eastern seaboard. I would have never done that before."

Mac had a feeling he was building to something and she didn't feel any of the anxiety she thought this moment might have given her previously. She gazed at him calmly and let him continue.

"So the reason I want to toast to Hurricanes is because Irene helped push us together, but I was hoping that tonight, which seems totally appropriate, you might agree to marry me." He smiled as he said it and then suddenly in his champagne free hand there appeared the ring.

Mac looked at her beloved and then at the ring and smiled as a tear escaped her eye. Will wiped it away immediately and as he did she grabbed his hand, which was still holding the ring with hers. She kissed his palm and blinked up at him.

She realized he was still waiting for a reply. "Of course I'll marry you you idiot!" She laughed and he did too. He held her in his arms and drank in the smell of her. After a long pause he broke apart so that he could slip the ring on her finger. They both gazed at its sparkling brilliance.

Though they were both usually verbose, words failed them at this moment. It was Mac who finally broke the silence.

"To Hurricanes." She said as she clanked her glass to his.

So there it was, on an air mattress, in his office, at 3am, to the sound of howling winds and fire engines, that Will and Mac bravely took the next step in their relationship. They couldn't be happier.


End file.
